Anglo-French electricals group Kesa disclosed that sales have plunged at its flagship businesses, including UK chain Comet, which will make a first-half loss.
Comet’s total sales during the first quarter slipped 6.6 per cent and like-for-likes plunged 9.9 per cent as cash-strapped shoppers shunned white goods.
In France, the Darty chain suffered a 0.2 per cent decline in total sales and a 3.2 per cent like-for-like fall.
Chief executive Jean-Noël Labroue warned that the “very tough” trading conditions experienced during the first quarter had not changed since the period end on July 31.
He said: “As we did not expect to see any improvement in the short term, we put in place a robust action plan to protect margins, adjust costs and generate cash, while maintaining key strategic investments in our established businesses and start-up operations to secure our long-term growth.”
Other Kesa businesses, such as Datart and Vanden Borre, performed better. Kesa posted a 3.3 per cent rise in group revenues in local currency and a 4.7 per cent like-for-like decline. In sterling, the group sales total was ahead 14.4 per cent.
Landsbanki analyst Paul Deacon said the update was “very weak” and warned: “Our forecasts now look far too high and we are likely to make significant downgrades.”
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