Kesa Electricals, the former owner of Comet, suffered an annus horribilis last year after restructuring costs associated with the disposal of the struggling UK chain saw it post a calamitous loss of more than £250 million.
Even Kesa’s Darty chain in France, widely regarded as a success, had a year to forget with profits down by more than a quarter, which forced the group to halve its total dividend. After a torrid few years in the UK, Kesa sold Comet to OpCapita for a token £2 in February, including a £50 million dowry it paid to the investment firm to take the 248-store chain off its hands.
The pan-European electricals group has also retained liability for Comet’s defined benefit pension scheme.
Kesa’s chief executive Thierry Falque-Pierrotin said “markets throughout Europe were exceptionally difficult in 2011-12”.
Further reflecting the pressure on spending, Dixons Retail, Europe’s largest electricals retailer and owner of the Currys chain, is expected tomorrow to post a 20% fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £68 million for the year to the end of April. Kesa, which also has Darty operations in Italy, Turkey and Spain, sank to a pre-tax loss of €313.9 million (£253 million) for the year to 30 April, dragged down by hefty exceptional impairment and restructuring charges.
Comet accounted for all the €274.2 million losses from discontinued operations. Stripping out exceptional items, Kesa delivered underlying profits down by 42% to £47.7 million.
Alan Parker, chairman of Mothercare and former chief executive of leisure group Whitbread is due to become chairman of Kesa in September when David Newlands steps down from the post.
He said: “I look forward to working with the management team in these challenging times.” Kesa is to be renamed Darty from July 31.
