Kingfisher says it faced ‘weak’ market in October as Greggs also complains of cost of national insurance increase

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B&Q owner Kingfisher has said that 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 that it had seen “solid underlying trading in August and September”, but that changed to a “weak market and consumer in the UK and France in October, affected by uncertainty related to government budgets in both countries”.