Kesa Electricals is looking to break even at its lossmaking Spanish, Italian and Turkish divisions by 2012 and plans to rename its troubled Spanish division.
Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, chief executive of the electricals retailer, said: “We are focused on breaking even in the so-called developing businesses.
“In Italy and Turkey, the breakeven will come through a store expansion programme. Spain is a different story . . . we have terminated some stores and we are putting a team in place that truly understands our service-led concept.”
Losses at its developing businesses, including Darty Switzerland, which was sold in July, dropped from £19m to £16.1m in the six months to October 31.
Kesa say that its Spanish division, Menaje del Hogar, would be rebranded as Darty from January, after research showed consumers associated the Menaje brand with discounting.
The retailer made a first-half profit of £6m, recovering from a £103.8m loss in the same period last year but this is largely due from a writedown of the Spanish business.
Sales were £2.3bn (£2.2bn), boosted by an upturn for freezers, washing machines and cookers in France and the UK.
Sales at Comet, its UK business, rose 3.6 per cent from £723m to £749m during the period. Hugh Harvey, managing director of Comet, says that demand for white goods was picking up.
Sales at Darty France fell 1.9 per cent against a decline in the overall market of 3 per cent.