Whoops! A DIY confession

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In a statement, a shame-faced Kingfisher today admitted: "It has come to our attention that due to an administrative error some draft figures were circulated externally on the afternoon of 7 September.

"Whilst the numbers have not yet been formally approved, Kingfisher recognises its regulatory responsibilities and therefore today announces that it expects to report adjusted pre-tax profit in the range of £285m-£290m for the six months to 1 August 2009."

It is believed the figures were sent out in emails to City analysts who follow Kingfisher.

The emails were conveying some routine corporate information, but the profit figures due out next week were included as well.

However, it is far from certain whether any of the analysts actually read the emails.

This is because Kingfisher's shares remained steady in afternoon trading yesterday following an initial jump in the morning after the takeover bid for Cadbury was announced.

The shares were on the rise today, up 8.4p to 225.5p, as the figures are better than expected.

The profits are a significant improvement on last year's £214 million half-year pre-tax profits and are some way ahead of the £268 million that was expected this time.