Hardly electric, but Comet sales hold up

Published on Tuesday 20 January 2009 20:56

BARGAIN-HUNTERS have helped stem the sales rot at electricals chain Comet, but the group yesterday warned of trouble ahead.

Releasing festive trading numbers, parent company Kesa said it had endured weak trading at its Comet stores during November and December. However, a pick-up in post-Christmas trade meant overall sales for the UK retail arm were down just 0.4 per cent in the period between 1 November and 8 January.

Kesa said market conditions remained "very aggressive", with promotions and discounting leading to a slump in margins.

Jean-Noel Labroue, who retired as group chief executive on 5 January but is currently in a transition period to hand over the job to Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, warned of a testing year ahead, saying: "Consumer confidence is very bad in this country."

Overall, group revenues were down 5.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new store openings and changes in store space.

Kesa's update follows news last week that larger rival DSG International, owner of the Currys and PC World chains, had suffered a 10 per cent fall in like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to 10 January.

Analysts yesterday said Comet's figures were better than expected but French brand Darty's performance was worse, with a 6.2 per cent drop in like-for-like sales.

Philip Dorgan, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said the drop in profitability implied downgrades to City pre-tax profit forecasts, which currently stand at some 80 million for the year to April and at 70m for the following year.