* Q3 retail profit up 8.3 percent to 176 million sterling
* Q3 like-for-like sales down 5.1 percent
* Says "more challenging times ahead"
* To close its nine Trade Depot stores in the UK
(Adds detail, background)
LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Kingfisher, Europe's top home improvement retailer, beat forecasts with an 8.3 percent rise in third-quarter profit, helped by cost control and currency moves, but said trading was set to get tougher.
The firm, which runs market leaders B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said on Thursday profit from continuing operations before central costs, one-off items and goodwill was 176 million pounds ($272 million) in the 13 weeks ended Nov. 1.
Analysts' mean forecast in a company poll was 163 million.
Kingfisher, which employs over 70,000 people in more than 800 stores in eight countries, said sales at stores open at least a year fell 5.1 percent, with strong results in Poland and a market-beating performance in France offset by weaker trading in the UK and a plunge in sales in China.
Gross profit margins in both France and the UK were higher, helped by fewer promotions.
"There are clearly more challenging times ahead and we are concentrating on trading effectively in difficult markets by managing our working capital, cash and costs tightly," Chief Executive Ian Cheshire said in a statement.
Kingfisher said it planned to close its nine Trade Depot stores in the UK, which made a loss of 5 million pounds in the last financial year, to focus on the turnaround of its B&Q business, leading to a one-off cost of 20 million pounds this financial year.
Kingfisher's shares have more than halved in value over the past 18 months, but have steadied since July on hopes that Cheshire's recovery plan -- a mix of cost savings and expansion in stronger markets like France and Poland -- might bear fruit.
The stock has outperformed the DJ Stoxx European Retail Index by 26 percent this year. It closed at 119.5 pence on Wednesday, valuing the firm at about 2.8 billion pounds. (Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by Rhys Jones and Jon Loades-Carter)