TORRENTIAL rain has dampened sales at Hampshire based DIY giant B&Q.

Owner Kingfisher is just the latest retailer to report troubles amid the extreme weather conditions, with sales figures down across the country.

The home improvement chain said the rain saw shoppers shun traditionally strong summer sellers such as outdoor and garden products, sending like-for-like sales down 2.3 per cent in the ten weeks to July 14.

Sales of garden furniture, barbecues and air conditioning have plunged by 20 per cent at Britain's biggest DIY retailer, which is based at Chandler's Ford and employs 3,000 people in Hampshire.

Kingfisher's trade businesses Screwfix and Trade Depot performed marginally better, but still left like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of changes to floor space, down by 1.5 per cent in the period.

Kingfisher's figures for the UK - the firm's biggest operating region - come in stark contrast to upbeat first quarter results, which were buoyed by warm early spring weather.

Gerry Murphy, Kingfisher group chief executive, said the "abnormal weather patterns" seen this year had been both a blessing and a hindrance, adding the rain had been "'very unhelpful" in the second quarter.

But the business enjoyed better trading conditions elsewhere in its international operations, with group-wide like-for-like sales up 2.6 per cent in the past quarter, thanks largely to a 14.4 per cent like-for-like sales hike in its operations across Poland, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Russia.

Kingfisher opened 18 new international stores in the second quarter, bringing its total number of outlets to 760. The group is the third largest home improvement retailer in the world, operating across ten countries in Europe and Asia.