Warm weather boosts lager sales

29 June 2011 Last updated at 10:42 GMT Sales of Tennent's lager increased by 4% compared to the same time last year Unseasonally warm spring weather helped boost sales of the Scottish lager, Tennent's, according to its owner.

Sales of Tennent's between March and May were up 4% on the same period last year.

Dublin-based C&C Group said Tennent's recorded a robust performance - revenue from sales of Tennent's grew faster than the volume of sales a result of price rises.

It added that good progress continued to be made in the Republic of Ireland.

Overall, the company's outlook for the months ahead was less optimistic.

C&C, whose other brands include Magners and Bulmers, said trading in June had been relatively weak compared to last year because of poor weather. In 2010, June sales were also boosted by the World Cup.

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Warmer weather boosts B&Q sales

2 June 2011 Last updated at 09:31 GMT Kingfisher Group's chief executive Ian Cheshire says the company could not become complacent and needed to work hard to keep sales strong

B&Q-owner Kingfisher has said it made a "strong" start to the year, with the warm weather helping to boost sales of barbecues and goods for the garden.

Total sales for the 13 weeks to the end of April rose by 3.3% to ?2.73bn compared with a year earlier.

The group said higher sales and improved margins also helped to increase profits.

However, the retailer warned that the year as a whole would be "tough" for retailers, especially those in the UK.

Sales in the UK and the Irish Republic rose by 1.8% to ?1.19bn, while those in France were up 4.1% to ?1.1bn.

B&Q saw sales rise by 1.5% to ?1.1bn, with garden furniture and outdoor paint selling particularly well, reflecting the warmer weather.

Barbecue bonus

"[We've] worked really hard on margins and costs so when we do see a bit of a sales improvement, which I think [in this case] is seasonally led and we wouldn't necessarily count on this continuing into the second quarter, we definitely see it on the bottom line," Kingfisher chief executive Ian Cheshire told the BBC.

"Maybe [customers] are buying things a bit earlier this year - barbecues are being bought in April and May rather than June and July."

However, he added that sales of some indoor goods were "down quite substantially".

Despite the improvement in sales and profits, shares in Kingfisher fell more than 3% in morning trading in London.

"General market malaise and some inevitable profit taking have hit Kingfisher shares," said Richard Hunter at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.

However, he said the company's shares had risen 26% in the past year and remained a "strong buy" in the eyes of the market.

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