The owner of B&Q and Screwfix has posted a drop in first quarter sales.

Kingfisher blames unusually poor weather conditions for the slowdown in demand for seasonal products, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Across the group, like-for-like sales fell 3.3% to £3.3bn in the three months to April 30.

Core categories and big-ticket items at B&Q, which has stores in Cheltenham and Gloucester, showed "continued resilience". UK like-for-like sales for the category, which makes up over 80% of total sales, were up 1.7%, which helped to offset a 12.2% fall in sales for its seasonal range.

Screwfix, which has stores in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Cirencester, Tewkesbury and Cam and Dursley, saw sales rise 6.6% to £610m for the period, while B&Q sales fell 1.5% to £980m.

The company expects to see some pent-up demand for garden and outdoor products in the coming weeks as the weather improves.