Demerged Kesa sets its sights on European growth

The management of Kingfisher-owned electricals business Kesa has drawn up a wishlist of countries for European expansion.

The retailer, which owns chains including Comet in the UK and Darty in France, will be demerged from Kingfisher over the next three weeks and trading in its shares will begin on July 7.

Potential markets for expansion are Spain and Italy and countries in Eastern Europe such as Poland, according to Kesa chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue.

However, he said: 'We will wait until things settle down before we can try such a thing.' He said he would wait 'perhaps a year from now' before he could confidently turn his attention to new markets, either organically or through expansion.

Kesa, the number one retailer of white goods in Europe and number three in brown goods, is testing new-style Darty stores and has been left a net debt of£368 million by Kingfisher. Kesa has 790 stores in seven European countries.