Kingfisher Plc, Europe's largest home-improvement retailer, said third-quarter profit was little changed as a slowing U.K. housing market and rising mortgage repayments meant consumers spent less money redecorating.

Earnings before interest and tax fell to 171.7 million pounds ($356.3 million) from 173 million pounds a year earlier, London- based Kingfisher said in a Regulatory News Service statement today. That beat the 169 million-pound median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company didn't report net profit.

British house prices declined for a second month in November, according to Hometrack Ltd., as the highest borrowing costs in six years and slowing economic growth sapped confidence. Kingfisher has remodeled outlets and targeted more female customers in an effort to extend a recovery at its U.K. B&Q chain.

``Given the increasingly negative macro outlook in the U.K., we believe the likelihood of the do-it-yourself market growing in 2008 is low,'' Morgan Stanley analyst Geoff Ruddell said in a Nov. 14 note. He has ``overweight'' rating on Kingfisher on the grounds that a new chief executive officer may sell some of the retailer's peripheral assets and real estate.

The retailer this month said Gerry Murphy would step down in February after five years as chief executive. Ian Cheshire, head of B&Q, has been tipped by analysts as a likely successor.

Kingfisher shares rose 0.9 pence, or 0.6 percent, to 160 pence in London yesterday. The stock has lost about a third of its value this year, posting the fifth-biggest decline on the 20-member FTSE 350 General Retail Index.
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