The 9 per cent plunge in like-for-like sales at flagship chain B&Q represented its worst-ever quarterly performance. The retailer blamed appalling market conditions and pointed out that, despite the fall, B&Q is still outperforming the DIY market. It was a little like the celebrations that greeted skier Chemmy Alcott's Olympic triumph - it was the best by a British woman skier for 40 years (never mind that she actually came in 11th).
But the muted share price fall that followed Kingfisher's update showed not only that the bad news had already been factored in ahead of the announcement, but B&Q probably really is outperforming the market.
It won't make the retailer's top brass feel very secure, but the problems faced by rivals are even more daunting. MFI - which pulled a£92 million rabbit out of the hat this week with the sale of its Hygena business in France - faces radical restructuring under new boss Matthew Ingle. DIY group Focus's private status means it is difficult to gauge how well it is doing, but all the anecdotal reports suggest it makes B&Q's performance look Oscar-winning.
In such punishing trading conditions, operational excellence comes into its own. B&Q was traditionally the best in the business and there are welcome signs of increased operational focus.
Take the changes being made to customer service. Freeing staff from routine admin to advise and serve shoppers may sound a bit cuddly, but it has brought tangible benefits.
In stores where the new way of doing things has been instituted, back office duties have been cut by 500 hours per outlet. And the consequent increased presence on the shopfloor has boosted average transaction values. The initiative is to be adopted at 200 outlets this year.
Similarly, price competitiveness, range development and cost reduction will remain priorities at B&Q. So although there could be a long way to go, at least B&Q seems to be concentrating on all the right things.
Not all retailers are, however, and some that fail to adapt to the cold trading climate operationally will fail altogether. There is one big problem that retailers across the board will face - a shortage of top-notch ops people.
In conversation the other evening, a retail headhunter told me that such is the shortage of premier league operations managers that UK retailers are increasingly trawling the skills base overseas as well as at home.
The easy years that UK retail enjoyed before the present downturn meant there were many ops managers who could be described as fine, but lacked the capacity to really get going when the going got tough.
Top ops people are the gold dust in retailing today and the store groups that have them are best placed to come out of the downturn stronger and fitter.
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