B&Q owner says budget uncertainty hit spending and tax rise will cost it £31m

B&Q sales fell by 1.1% in the three months to the end of October compared with a year earlier. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock

The B&Q owner, Kingfisher, has said uncertainty around the UK government’s budget hit consumer spending, and it will pay an extra £31m in taxes after Rachel Reeves’s rise in national insurance.

The DIY and building supplies retailer said it had seen “solid underlying trading in August and September” but that had changed to a “weak market and consumer in the UK and France in October, impacted by uncertainty related to government budgets in both countries”.