Interim Results - Part 1

Kingfisher PLC
13 September 2000



Part 1                                       

                                       
                Interim results for 26 weeks ended 29 July 2000

                                                As          
                                             restated       
                          2000     2000        1999         
                        Euro m***   £m         £m       Change
Retail Sales           8,848     5,413.7    4,844.3     +11.8%
                                                        
Retail Profit*           427       261.1      254.8      +2.5%
                                                        
Profit Before Tax**:                                    
   Pre e-Commerce        380       232.5      258.6     (10.1)%
   Post e-Commerce       333       204.0      255.7     (20.2)%
                                                        
Exceptional Items        196       119.9      (4.3)       N/A
                                                        
Net result               348       212.8      127.3     +67.2%
                                                        
Net operating cash flow  511       312.6      348.2     (10.2)%
                                                        
Capital investment       615       376.3      461.3     (18.4)%
                                                        
Net debt               2,080     1,272.9      942.8     +35.0%
                                                        
Gearing                             37.6%      34.7%     
                                                        
Earnings per share                                      
(p)**:
   Pre e-Commerce                    9.2p      10.1p     (8.9)%
   Post e-Commerce                   8.4p      10.0p    (16.0)%
                                                          
Basic earnings per share            15.6p       9.4p    +66.0%
(p)
                                                        
Dividends (per  share)               4.25p      4.0p     +6.3%
(p)

*  before  accounting policy changes for UITF 24 and FRS 15 amounting to 
   £15.3 million at retail profit level (1999: £1.4 million).
** before exceptional items and acquisition goodwill amortisation.
***£1= Euro 1.6343.




Kingfisher  today announces its half-year results and also that it intends  to
create, through demerger, two separately quoted UK PLCs; one combining its DIY
and Electrical Sectors, the other General Merchandise. The demerger is planned
to take place within the first half of next year.

The  results reveal record sales, market share gains by its three sectors, and
accelerated  investment in new space and e-Commerce, but  a  drop  in  pre-tax
profits  before exceptionals for the first time in 5 years. They also  show  a
67%  increase  in  the  Net  Result after the inclusion  of  £120  million  of
exceptional items.

Kingfisher Group Chief Executive Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy said: 'At this stage  of
Kingfisher's development the demerger will both facilitate growth  in  General
Merchandise  and enable 'New Kingfisher' to grow more rapidly by focussing  on
leading international consolidation in DIY and Electricals.

RESULTS

Despite highly competitive markets, Group retail sales of £5.4 billion were up
nearly 12%. Underlying growth was also strong with like-for-like sales up 6.5%
and  overall  cash  margins also increased. Retail Profit, before  changes  in
accounting policy required by UITF 24 and FRS 15, was up 2.5%. Reported  first
half  pre tax profit, before exceptionals and goodwill amortisation, of   £204
million  show  a  decline for the first time in five years.  This  reflects  a
combination of factors which particularly impacted the Group's seasonally less
important half year.

The factors were:

* A £26 million increase in the revenue costs of investing in strategically
  important  e-Commerce development, about half of this reflecting a provision
  for Kingfisher's share of the estimated operating losses of LibertySurf.  
This should  be seen in the context of the success of our e-Commerce strategy 
to date. For example, an exceptional gain of £121million is reported in the
first half  results  following LibertySurf's flotation in March.  Furthermore 
the Group's stake has a current market value of around £600 million.

* Kingfisher has adopted UITF 24 issued in July 2000. This impacts the way
  Kingfisher  treats  pre-opening costs of new stores.  Furthermore,  the  new
  accounting  standard FRS 15 has meant a change in the accounting policy  for
  freehold property depreciation.  The extra charge against profits from  both
  these changes is nearly £16 million in the first half, with a similar impact
  expected in the second.

* Because of the continued weakness of the Euro, the Group has suffered an
  adverse impact of £10 million on currency translation.

* Further investment was made in new space and new formats. In the General
  Merchandise Sector there was a £6 million increase in revenue costs relating
  to  Big  W  and Woolworth's General Store. In Wegert, our German electricals
  business,  new  management was introduced and the business  reorganised  and
  consolidated.  This  led to an increased loss of £9  million.   Our  overall
  investment programme also increased interest charges by £15 million year  on
  year.

* The  Group  continued  to invest in organic sales  growth.  Prices  were
  reduced  ahead  of  planned cost reductions in some  categories  of  General
  Merchandise - Entertainment, Children's Clothes and Toiletries - this 
  impacted profits by £10 million.

Kingfisher's  three major sectors all achieved encouraging sales  growth  with
particularly strong performances from DIY, up over 12% and Electricals up over
14%. In General Merchandise an increase of nearly 8% was achieved.

In  DIY, B&Q and Brico Depot delivered outstanding growth as they continued to
gain market share at the expense of their competitors. With sales of over £300
million  and profits of £15 million, our DIY businesses outside of France  and
the  UK  continued  to  make  rapid  progress.  The  Sector  trades  in  eight
strategically  important  growth markets including  Poland,  Germany,  Turkey,
China and Taiwan.

In  Electricals, Darty grew sales by over 16% in local currency and Comet also
achieved  strong sales growth, up nearly 20%. In the important  German  market
Wegert grew sales by 24%. All three companies grew market share.

In  General Merchandise sales were up by 8% with good performances from Health
and  Beauty, Toys, Mobile Communications and Confectionery. Sales from the new
formats, Big W and Woolworth's General Store, began to accelerate.

TRADING OUTLOOK

The  results for the second, more important half, will depend as ever  on  the
key  Christmas trading period which is particularly important to  the  General
Merchandise  and  Electricals sectors. Profits  in  the  short  term  will  be
impacted  by  on going revenue investment costs as we continue to develop  the
business in line with our strategy.  We fully expect to return to solid profit
growth  thereafter. The expected costs associated with the demerger  will  not
have a material impact on the current year.


THE DEMERGER

Mass  market  retailing is characterised at present by  three  major  factors.
Firstly  the  acceleration toward global retailing, with the inevitability  of
further  consolidation; secondly fierce price competition; and thirdly rapidly
changing customer needs.

Essentially Kingfisher has two types of business: DIY/Electricals,  which  are
both  specialist European retailers with global scope; and General Merchandise
which  is concentrated in the UK with two of the country's leading brands.  By
creating  two  separate  businesses with their  own  focussed  strategies  and
dedicated  management  teams, Kingfisher believes they  will  both  be  better
placed to accelerate their development.

Sir  Geoffrey  added:  'I believe this is the right  move  at  this  stage  of
Kingfisher's   development  for  the  businesses,  for   employees   and   for
shareholders.  'New  Kingfisher' and General Merchandise are  both  large  and
profitable businesses capable of substantial growth. The key to achieving this
growth  is  to bring discrete focus to these businesses. For 'New  Kingfisher'
this  centres on international expansion and consolidation as well as  further
development  of domestic markets. For General Merchandise this means  building
on  existing  strengths  and  the roll out of exciting  new  formats  to  meet
customers' changing needs in the UK.

I  passionately believe that the General Merchandise business  is  capable  of
major  growth.  The demerger, with the management focus it  will  bring,  will
undoubtedly mean the business is better placed to grow its share of  this  £50
billion   market.   Equally  I  believe  that  'New  Kingfisher'  will   drive
consolidation in the Electricals and DIY markets and become a major  worldwide
retailing force.'
                                           
                                                                            
                                       
                                SUMMARY RESULTS
                                       
SECTOR             Retail sales (£m)       Retail profit (£m)
                                     %      **     **     %
                 2000     1999    change   2000   1999  change
DIY            2,591.3   2,310.3  12.2    191.4  173.3  10.4

ELECTRICALS    1,501.1   1,311.7  14.4     48.1   51.3  (6.2)

GENERAL        1,318.0   1,222.1   7.8      6.3   28.8 (78.1)
MERCHANDISE

PRE E-COMMERCE 5,410.4   4,844.1  11.7    245.8  253.4  (3.0)
TOTAL

E-COMMERCE         3.3       0.2   N/A    (28.5)  (2.9)  N/A
*TOTAL         5,413.7   4,844.3  11.8    217.3  250.5 (13.2)

 *  Retail sectors only, excludes property, financial services, acquisition
    goodwill amortisation and other operating costs.
 ** Stated after inclusion of £15.3 million additional charge for the
    introduction of UITF 24 and FRS 15 (prior year £1.4 million).
                                       
                                       
                                       
    
                                       
                                       
                              SUMMARY OTHER DATA
                                       
                                       
SECTOR            Store nos.            Selling space            Employees
                                                                  (FTE)
                              (000s sq.ft.)    (000s sq. m.)            
               2000   1999   2000    1999    2000     1999      2000   1999
DIY             531    506 34,262  27,983  3,183.0  2,599.7    44,306  39,346
ELECTRICALS     785    707  9,631   7,567    894.7    703.0    24,055  20,802
GENERAL       1,594  1,560  9,467   8,921    879.5    828.8    25,707  22,378
MERCHANDISE
KINGFISHER    2,910  2,773 53,360  44,471  4,957.2  4,131.5    94,068  82,526
TOTAL
                                       
                                                                         
                                       
                                     INDEX

                                                          Page

Operations review
DIY             - UK                                       7
                - France                                   8
                - Other International                      8
Electrical      - France                                  10
                - UK                                      11
                - Germany                                 12
                - Other International                     12
General Merchandise                                       13
E-Commerce                                                15
Kingfisher data by sector and company                     16
Financial Section
Consolidated profit and loss account                      17
Consolidated balance sheet                                18
Summary consolidated cash flow statement                  19
Notes to the interim financial statements                 20
Independent review report to Kingfisher plc               25


DIY SECTOR


                  £m Sales            %      £m Retail Profit*      %
Company        2000        1999    change     2000      1999      change
B&Q**        1,420.4   1,169.3      21.5     117.3      99.8       17.5
Castorama***   868.7     899.6      (3.4)     58.8      63.6       (7.5)
Other****      302.2     241.4      25.2      15.3       9.9       54.6
 Total       2,591.3   2,310.3      12.2     191.4     173.3       10.4

*    after £9.8 million of charges arising under UITF 24 and FRS 15
**   includes Screwfix
***  includes French activity only
**** includes all DIY activities outside the UK and France including a one
     month contribution from Koctas (Turkey) to 30 June 2000. Nomi's
     1999 results covered the six months ending 30 June 1999. B&Q China's 2000
     results covered the six months to 30 June 2000.

Kingfisher's DIY sector is by far the leading European DIY retailer and number
three in the world, with 61.3% of its profits arising in the UK compared  with
57.6%  last  year.  The  sector enjoyed a strong  first  half,  aided  by  the
continued strength of its main markets and the substantial expansion programme
underway, which enabled further strong gains in market share.

In  the UK, the Repair, Maintenance and Improvement (RMI) market grew by  5.5%
in  the  first  half, despite some poor weather around the key Easter  trading
period. The French DIY market grew by 4.1% over the same period.

Sales for the sector were ahead by 12.2% at £2,591.3 million, with profits  of
£191.4  million.  Profits were struck after an accounting adjustment  of  £9.8
million  relating  to  FRS 15 and UITF 24 and there was also  a  £6.1  million
adverse  currency  swing. On a like for like basis, adjusting  for  these  two
factors, profit growth was very strong at 19.6%.

The  integration of B&Q and Castorama continues with solid progress being made
in  areas such as format development, sourcing, logistics and expansion in new
markets.  Synergy  benefits  arising from sourcing  cost  reductions  will  be
reported at the year end, included in the individual businesses' profits.

UK

Market  leader  B&Q's  EDLP  strategy continued to drive  pricing  down,  with
average  prices falling by 4%.  With sales growth of 21.5% to £1,420.4 million
and  its  market share increasing further to 11.3%, B&Q again widened the  gap
with  its  competitors.  Profits were ahead 17.5% at £117.3 million. Like-for-
like sales growth of 8.1% underlines the successful implementation of its EDLP
strategy.    Both  Warehouse  and  Supercentre  performed  well  with   strong
performances in Decorative, Building, Hardware and Seasonal product categories
in particular.

During  the period six new Warehouse stores were opened bringing the total  to
54.  Over two thirds of these outlets are achieving annualised sales in excess
of  £20  million, with six over £30 million.  Warehouse sales now account  for
over 40% of the B&Q total.

With  a  further 27 Warehouse sites already committed, B&Q's expansion towards
its  goal of 125 stores is clearly well on track. During the rest of the  year
it  plans  to  open  a further six Warehouses along with one  Supercentre.  In
addition  there  will be a trial of a new Supercentre format,  located  in  an
existing Warehouse catchment area in Warrington, based on a convenience  offer
with  more authoritative decorative ranges. In total, this will mean that  B&Q
will  have added around one million square feet of selling space by  the  year
end.

Included  in  the B&Q figures is a six month contribution from  Screwfix,  the
specialist direct mail supplier to trade customers.

France

Our  DIY  brands  in France are the clear market leaders.  In local  currency,
they  achieved  sales  growth of 4.8% in France, and  increased  like-for-like
sales,  at constant exchange rates, by 3.9%, driven largely by another  strong
performance  by  Brico Depot. In particular, performances  in  Wood  Products,
Decorative, and Building were notable especially when considering  the  strong
growth achieved in the comparative period last year which saw sales boosted by
Castorama's 30th Anniversary promotion.

Profits  were  ahead  in  local currency, but were  heavily  impacted  by  the
weakness  of the Euro against Sterling (£5.0 million) and the introduction  of
FRS 15 and UITF 24, as more than half of the DIY Sector amount of £9.8 million
related to France.

During  the first half, five Castorama stores were reopened as Brico Depot.  A
further two Brico Depot stores were opened bringing the total to 33, with  one
more  planned later on in the year.  A new Castorama Warehouse format will  be
trialled in October near Paris.

Other International

Outside  of  the UK and France, the DIY sector's activities continue  to  grow
rapidly.  Sales  of £302.2 million were ahead by 25.2% and profits  also  grew
strongly by 54.6% to £15.3 million. The number of stores trading has increased
by  15  since the start of the financial year to 81, including five stores  in
the  Koctas joint venture, Turkey's market leader, which was acquired in June.
The other store openings were in Belgium, Canada, China, Poland and Taiwan.

Noteworthy  developments are the strong trading being  experienced  in  Poland
with  strong  performance in both the Castorama and NOMI formats.   There  are
encouraging  results coming from the new format Casto-Depot trial  in  Germany
and  the opening of the second Shanghai store in June. A further 12 stores are
expected to open in markets outside the UK and France during the rest  of  the
year.  This  includes entry into the Ontario market in Canada with three  Reno
Depot stores.

NOTE: At the time of the merger of B&Q with Castorama, Kingfisher took a 57.9%
stake  in  the enlarged Castorama group, fully consolidating its  figures  and
reporting a minority interest for the share of the business not owned.   Since
the  merger, following the exercise of share options in Castorama,  the  stake
has reduced to 56.4%.

Castorama,  which  retains  its separate listing  on  the  Paris  Bourse,  has
reported  separately  under French Accounting Standards its  results  for  the
first half of the year.

Castorama's results as reviewed here do not include B&Q and are restated under
UK GAAP.



ELECTRICAL SECTOR


                £m Sales           %      £m Retail Profit*      %
Company    2000           1999   change     2000     1999     change
Darty       536.7       500.1      7.3      42.6     42.6       -
Comet       454.5       380.1     19.6       3.4      3.4       -
Wegert**    265.0       213.7     24.0     (13.9)    (5.3)     N/A
BUT***      146.8       137.5      6.8      18.9     14.9      26.8
Other****    98.1        80.3     22.2      (2.9)    (4.3)     N/A
Total     1,501.1     1,311.7     14.4      48.1     51.3      (6.2)

*    after £2.0 million of charges arising under UITF 24 and FRS 15
**   includes 6 months to 30 June both 1999 and 2000
***  1999 results covered the six months ending 30 June
**** includes all electricals activities outside the UK, France and Germany in
     addition to central sector costs

Kingfisher's  Electricals  sector, which  is  the  third  largest  in  Europe,
achieved  strong overall sales growth of 14.4% to a total of £1,501.1 million.
All the major brands recorded gains in market share.

Strong  like-for-like  sales growth of 10.7% at constant  exchange  rates  was
boosted  by strong growth in Brown Goods, Personal Computing, Mobile Telephony
and Digital Products. The French Electricals market grew by 6.5% according  to
Banque  de  France data for the six months to 30 June 2000. In the UK,  market
growth over the same period was similar at 7.1%. In both cases growth in brown
goods,  where heavy price deflation persists, was substantially ahead of  that
seen in white.

Electrical sector profits grew by 19% before UITF 24 and FRS 15 impacts of  £2
million,  a  £3.6 million adverse currency swing and the investment  costs  of
consolidating entry into the important German market.

Own  brand development remains an important part of the sourcing strategy  and
the  electrical  own brands, including PROline, which is sold  throughout  the
Group, are on track to achieve full year sales of over £200 million.

France

Darty,  the  French market leader, grew sales by 16.4% in local  currency  and
increased  like-for-like  sales by 14.8%. This performance  led  to  increased
market  share  and reflects the earlier decision to focus on leading  computer
brand  names  along  with continued strong growth in new technology  products.
One of the consequences of this growth has been an adverse shift in the margin
mix.

Profits in local currency terms increased by 8.7%. The Sterling profit  figure
of £42.6 million was after an adverse currency movement of £3.6 million.

During  the first half, Darty opened two new stores in the Paris area,  taking
the  total  to 175, and refurbished a further 13 stores.  In the remainder  of
the  year Darty plans to open five more new stores, relocate one and refurbish
another  three.   Over the course of the next five years  it  is  intended  to
increase the number of outlets to a total of 240 in France.

BUT, the furniture and electrical retailer, achieved sales growth of 15.7% and
a substantial profits increase of 36.8% in local currency. Like-for-like sales
growth  of  3.5%, at constant exchange rates, was driven by Furniture  Product
categories  in particular where the overall market grew by 3.1%  for  the  six
months ended June 2000.

During the first half, 13 BUT stores operated by franchisees were acquired and
two  new BUT stores were also opened. The new format trialled in 1999 has  now
been introduced into five further stores.

UK

Comet  grew  sales strongly by 19.6% with like-for-like sales ahead  by  12.6%
helped  by  the  earlier move to nation-wide EDLP. This progress  resulted  in
increased market share and was despite continued price deflation especially in
Brown  Goods.  Sales of Large Screen Televisions, Mobile Phones  and  Personal
Computers in particular were all strong. Although profits remained flat  after
significant  investment costs, the new EDLP strategy sees  the  business  well
placed  to leverage a strong profit performance off our overhead base  in  the
seasonally stronger second half of the year.

Further  significant  progress was made building on the  initiatives  launched
last  year. A further five new local after sales service centres were  opened,
taking the total to 12. These now cover half of the UK and provide a same  day
call  out  service. The National Call Centre in Hull became fully operational,
handling all incoming calls to stores and offering a phone-based sales service
to  customers. Sales of over £15 million were achieved during the  first  half
through the Call Centre.

Four  more  new format interactive destination stores were opened. During  the
rest of the year a further 15 destination stores are planned to open. Although
these  tend  to be redevelopments, the net effect will be to increase  selling
space by more than 200,000 square feet by the year end, as the new stores  are
larger on an individual basis.


Germany

Wegert,  which  became fully owned by Kingfisher on 19 June 2000,  grew  sales
strongly by 24.0% largely as a result of the addition of seven stores  in  the
first  half  and  the  consolidation  of the  loss-making  Kommandant  stores,
acquired late last year. Like-for-like sales were ahead by 1.1%.

Wegert's losses of £13.9 million reflect the investment costs of expansion  in
this key market, strengthening the management team and introducing centralised
buying and category management along with strong competitive activity.

Following  the work carried out in the first half of the year, the  number  of
products ranged has been rationalised and mini-refits have been completed in a
number  of  key categories. A new logistics infrastructure will also  soon  be
implemented as part of a major two year programme.

It is planned to open a further five new stores later in the year, including a
new concept store which will be trialled in Hamburg from the Autumn.


Other International

New Vanden Borre, the Belgian electricals chain, increased like-for-like sales
by 16.1%, outperforming a market that grew by just 1.3% in the first half. The
acquisition of the Hugo Van Praag business introduced 30 more stores, bringing
the  total  to  51  including  two  other new  openings,  and  brought  market
leadership in Belgium.


BCC  in  Holland increased sales by 12.7% in local currency, mainly driven  by
multimedia.  One  store was refurbished and there was  one  new  store  opened
taking the total to 23 and a new, enlarged distribution centre was opened near
Amsterdam.


GENERAL MERCHANDISE

                    £m Sales          %     £m Retail Profit*    %
Company        2000      1999     change    2000    1999      change
                                                 
Woolworths     735.2     699.8      5.1     10.1    16.8      (39.9)
Superdrug      404.1     394.7      2.4     10.9    18.2      (40.1)
Other**        156.3     125.3     24.7     (6.7)   (4.3)       N/A
New             22.4       2.3      N/A     (8.0)   (1.9)       N/A
Formats***
Total        1,318.0   1,222.1      7.8      6.3    28.8      (78.1)

*   After £3.5 million of charges arising under UITF 24 and FRS 15
**  Includes EUK, MVC, VCI, and central sector costs. VCI's figures are for
    the 6 months to 30 June 2000
*** Includes Big W and Woolworths General Stores
                                       

In a  difficult  trading  environment  the  sector  achieved  key  strategic
objectives increasing sales by 7.8% and taking market share from competitors.

There  were  some  notable  successes.  Woolworths delivered a very  strong
performance  over the key Easter trading period, yet again demonstrating  that
it is the leading events-based retailer in the UK. In the Toys market, which
is  typically driven by short term factors, Woolworths led the market in sales
of Pokemon products. The sector also proved its ability to adjust quickly to
new mass market product opportunities by gaining a strong market share in DVD.
Superdrug's strategy of repositioning the brand also led  to  further  market
share gains in both the Health and Beauty categories.

Despite  this  progress three particular factors impacted the Sector's  retail
profits.  Revenue  investment  arising from  the  development  of  Big  W  and
Woolworths  General Store totalled £8 million and, as with the other  Sectors,
FRS  15  and UITF 24 also had an impact (£3.5 million). In addition, strategic
decisions were taken to ensure that we were price competitive in key  markets,
mainly  Entertainment,  Children's Clothing  and  Toiletries,  which  impacted
profits  by  £10  million. However, it is important to note that  these  three
factors have a disproportionate impact on profits in this, the seasonable less
important half of the year.

Kingfisher announces acceleration of General Merchandise Strategy

Kingfisher today announces major plans to rapidly increase the size, sales and
profitability of the General Merchandise business.

General Merchandise retailing in the UK is changing  rapidly. The General
Merchandise business plans to exploit these changes over the next  five  years
by  opening up to 700 new or reformatted stores including 90  Big  W's,  the
massive  85,000 square foot destination stores, 400 Woolworths General Stores,
which are based on the American drugstore, and up to 200 Super D stores which
will combat local discount toiletry stores.  Overall these plans are expected
to add an incremental £2.5 billion in sales and create over 20,000 new jobs.

There are four elements to the plan.

The  General  Merchandise  business will build on  the  success  of  its  core
Woolworths and Superdrug stores. The business has invested in these stores in
recent  years in terms of refits, image, and the services available,  such  as
pharmacy  and  photo processing.  This has proved  successful  and  produced
encouraging  growth. It will drive the continued success of these  stores  in
two  major  ways. In line with its value heritage it will  always  be  price
competitive  and  it will better focus its offer according to  the  customer's
needs in different shopping locations.  For example, in small and medium sized
towns  it  will enhance everyday needs based ranges.  In the largest towns  or
cities  where  shopping  is  more leisure based the  business  will  focus  on
delivering  authoritative ranges in key categories such  as  Home,  Children's
products and Beauty.

The  second element of the plan is centred on local communities.  The existing
stores  in  these  locations  continue to perform  well.   By  evolving  these
further,  with  Woolworths  General Stores,  the  business  can  strategically
enhance  its  position  in  this market.  These new format  stores  combine  a
pharmacy,  with Health and Beauty, General Merchandise and a convenience  food
offer and have trialled highly successfully with customers.  Stores with  this
range  of  products focused on local needs trade well in other countries  that
face strong out of town competition. It plans to open 400 of these stores over
the next five years.

A  new  factor  which has impacted a number of stores, mainly  the  Toiletries
biased un-refurbished Superdrugs, is competition from discount retailers.  The
business  is  determined to combat this with the third element  of  the  plan,
Superdrug's  launch of the Super D store.  These stores will  focus  on  basic
Health,  Beauty,  Toiletries and Household ranges and  will  offer  unbeatable
prices.   They  will  operate  on  a different economic  model  to  Superdrug,
generating high sales volumes, at lower margins, but with lower costs.  Up  to
200  existing  Superdrug stores will be converted to this  format  within  two
years.

The  final element of the plans announced today is the accelerated opening  of
90  Big  W  stores over the next five years.  These 85,000 square foot  stores
offer  ranges  from  Woolworths, Superdrug, B&Q, BUT and  Comet,  as  well  as
Clothing.  This  authoritative range of products, at  great  prices,  will  be
difficult  to  match by any other retailer in the UK, including  the  grocers.
The  expectation  is  a countrywide chain with sales of  around  £1.5  billion
within  five years.  Each Big W store is expected to attract over one  million
customers a year and employ approximately 250 people.



E-COMMERCE AND OTHER NEW CHANNELS

e-Kingfisher was formed in June 2000 to enable the rapid growth of the Group's
existing  e-Commerce  and  other  alternative  channels  businesses  and   the
development of new businesses.

Investment in this area has grown from £2.9 million to £28.5 million  year  on
year  including  the  Group's  estimated share  of  the  operating  losses  of
LibertySurf,  in  which  Kingfisher has a 35% stake fully  diluted.   At  this
stage,  we  have not been provided with LibertySurf's results, which  will  be
announced  to  the  market  on  26  September,  subject  to  audit  and  final
confirmation.  As a result, we have had to make a provision for our  share  of
LibertySurf's  estimated  losses for the six months  to  June  2000.   In  the
absence of better information, we have used a consensus of brokers' forecasts.

Considerable successes have already been achieved from leveraging our  trusted
brands  and  retail know-how. Total sales in the first half of the  year  were
£64.7  million through non store channels with very high month on month  sales
growth  rates  being experienced.  Store sales also benefitted from  customers
researching  the  Internet and then shopping in store.  All our  major  brands
have   informational   sites  that  are  popular  with  customers   and   more
transactional sites are planned across all the sectors.

Our   other   strategic  ventures  to  date,  ThinkNatural,  Improveline   and
heimwerker.de are all progressing well.


                     KINGFISHER DATA BY SECTOR AND COMPANY



DIY SECTOR
Company           Store           Selling space          Employees
                   nos.                                    (FTE)
                          (000s sq.ft.)  (000s sq. m.)       
B&Q              301       16,776         1,558.5        19,547
Castorama        149       11,857         1,101.6        15,632
Other             81        5,629           522.9         9,127
TOTAL            531       34,262         3,183.0        44,306

ELECTRICAL SECTOR
Company           Store           Selling space          Employees
                   nos.                                    (FTE)
                        (000s sq.ft.)  (000s sq.m.)        
 
Darty            175       2,166         201.2           9,707
Comet            260       2,124         197.3           6,691
Wegert           191       2,256         209.6           3,750
BUT*              77       2,409         223.8           2,579
Other             82         676          62.8           1,328
TOTAL            785       9,631         894.7          24,055

GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Company           Store        Selling space            Employees
                   nos.                                    (FTE)
                        (000s sq.ft.) (000s sq.m.)         
Woolworths       795       6,548         608.0           16,328
Superdrug        705       2,228         207.0            6,630
Other             87         339          31.5            1,900
New Formats        7         352          33.0              849
TOTAL          1,594       9,467         879.5           25,707


KINGFISHER     2,910     53,360        4,957.2           94,068
TOTAL

The figures for BUT include only those stores consolidated in the Group's
figures.
BUT also operates the following non-consolidated franchises.

*BUT non         160      4,083.8        379.4            3,741
consolidated
franchises


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