Slow sales bring Comet down to earth

SALES have slowed at Kesa, the electricals and furniture group that owns the Comet chain, although chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue said he still expected 'satisfactory' full-year results.

In its third-quarter trading update today, the former Kingfisher subsidiary said total sales for the 13 weeks to 1 November rose by just over 12% to £927.3m.

Comet was hit by the fall-off in sales of extended warranties, although its like-for-like product sales rose 3.7%.

The Office of Fair Trading is due to publish the findings of its investigation into the warranties market. Comet saw good sales in major domestic appliances, and strong multimedia and digital product sales earlier in the quarter but October had been weaker.

Kesa's biggest business, the French company Darty, produced a like-for-like rise in sales of 4.7%, to £371.5m. The business enjoyed a boost during the August heatwave, with strong sales of cooling products, but the latter quarter was more subdued, said the group.

'Following an encouraging start, the overall trends in the quarter have borne out our previous caution for our second half,' Labroue added.

Shares in Kesa, which was demerged from Kingfisher last summer, have gained in recent weeks on takeover speculation in the market. They peaked at 260 1/2p on Wednesday, valuing the business at nearly £1.4bn.