Falling margins and tough retail conditions limited sales growth at Kesa Electricals as the Anglo-French retailer said that the uncertain market made it unclear what would happen in the crucial run up to Christmas.
Group sales in the third quarter rose 2 per cent to £973.1m as the group grew strongly in new markets such as Belgium and the Czech Republic, but like DSG International, its main rival in the UK, which on Wednesday said sales at Dixons and Currys were declining, total like-for-like sales fell 1 per cent.
Darty, the group’s French retail outlet saw a marginal 0.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales thanks to the popularity of flat screen televisions and digital audio, but the group said that sales volumes were growing faster than turnover because of price deflation, hurting margins. Total sales were up 1.9 per cent in local currency
In the UK, where Kesa trades as Comet, like-for-like sales fell 3.1 per cent and total sales 0.8 per cent. The group said that white goods sales were down in accordance with market trends, but that new technologies had performed strongly. Despite declining sales at Comet, the third-quarter performance was an improvement on the first half of the year.