LONDON (Reuters) – British home improvement retailer Kingfisher forecast full year profit towards the higher end of its previously guided range of 910-950 million pounds ($1.23-$1.28 billion) after reporting strong third quarter sales on a two-year basis.

The group, which owns B&Q and Screwfix in the United Kingdom and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said like-for-like sales fell 2.4% in the three months to Oct. 31 against high numbers a year ago when it benefited from soaring demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But like-for-like sales on a two-year basis were up 15.0%.

($1 = 0.7410 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)