Comet has suffered a drop in sales of extended warranties in recent months against a background of negative press coverage of the Competition Commission inquiry.
Parent Kingfisher told analysts at CSFB that sales of warranties dropped from 7 per cent of sales at year end in February, to less than 6 per cent in the three months to May 3, equating to a drop in sales of around 15 per cent.
CSFB analyst Nathan Cockrell said: 'It's not clear whether the drop is because of customers reacting to negative publicity over warranties or whether Comet has taken its foot off the gas because it doesn't want to push the issue.'
Rival Dixons refused to comment on warranty sales trends ahead of preliminary results in two weeks. Nobody at third place player PowerHouse was available for comment.
The outcome of the commission's inquiry is now not expected to be as harsh as initially feared. Findings will be delivered in July.
Separately, Dixons chief executive John Clare spoke out again this week on the issue of warranties.
Talking at a CBI Business Summit on Tuesday, Clare called for 'regulators who will work with us, not score points against us'.
Evolution Beeson Gregory retail analyst Nick Bubb interpreted Clare's speech as 'a dig at the Competition Commission inquiry into extended warranties as a waste of money'
He said: 'We question the wisdom of attacking the Competition Commission before their final verdict on extended warranties.'
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