Sales at electricals chain Comet jumped by more than 7% over Christmas and the New Year, outstripping the disappointing performance reported yesterday by rival Currys.
Owned by Kesa, Europe’s third-largest electrical goods retailer, Comet trades from 250 stores and said it had enjoyed strong sales in flat-screen televisions, lap-tops, music players and “sat nav” systems. Sales of white goods, such as fridges and cookers, also did well.
Underlying group sales for the period from November 1 to January 8 rose by 6.4%. Comet was the star performer, with a like-for-like advance of 7.5%.
A spokeswoman for Kesa said Comet had seen a strong November and a good build up to Christmas trade in December. The early days of the winter sale have also gone well. Online sales jumped by 20% and now account for around 7% of total sales at Comet.
Kesa has a large French business with its Darty and BUT chains, which produced like-for-like growth of 4.6% and 5% respectively.
Chief Executive Jean-Noel Labroue said: “Sales remained robust over our peak pre and post Christmas trading period and all our businesses delivered good revenue performances.”
Fiona Walsh, business editor
Thursday January 18, 2007