Electrical goods retailer Kesa Electricals Plc which trades as Comet in the UK have posted a 71 percent fall in first-half retail profit, halved its dividend and said trading was set to remain tough, sending its shares 11 percent lower.
Chief Executive Jean-Noel Labroue forecast “a very difficult peak trading period.”
“We do not expect consumer confidence to improve for the rest of the financial year,” he said.
Kesa said retail profit for the six months to Oct. 31 was 13.0 million pounds.
This compares with forecasts of about 13 million pounds to 15 million pounds and 45.1 million pounds in the same period last year.
Group revenue increased 0.4 percent to 2.18 billion pounds but was down 5.5 percent on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new space.
Labroue told reporters there had been no change in sales patterns in the third quarter compared to the second.
Comet, hit by particularly weak demand for white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators, made a first-half loss of 8.1 million pounds, while Spanish business Menaje del Hogar made a loss of 8.7 million pounds.
Prior to Tuesday’s update, shares in Kesa had lost 57 percent of their value over the last year, underperforming the DJ Stoxx European retail index by 39 percent.
This morning the stock was down 11 pence at 91.5 pence, valuing the business at 481 million pounds.
Bigger rival DSG International, which trades as Currys and PC World in Britain, UniEuro in Italy and Elkjop in Nordic countries, last month reported a first-half loss and axed its dividend.