Kesa sales fall
Sales fall across all Kesa’s retail chains over Christmas – retailer warns that tough trading conditions will continue.
In the UK, Comet’s strong post-Christmas sales led to a flat total revenue performance over the period and limited the fall in like for like sales to 2.5 per cent. However market conditions remained very aggressive, leading to a cumulative year to date decline in gross margin of approximately 170 basis points compared to last year. Total Group revenue increased by 11.0 per cent in sterling and declined 2.2 per cent in local currency, down 5.5 per cent on a like for like basis. Overall, the like for like sales decline was in line with the first half of the financial year. November and December remained weak with an improvement post Christmas, particularly in the UK. “We are expecting the difficult economic environment to continue and we will remain particularly focussed on maintaining our strong balance sheet including net cash at the end of April” said chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue.
In France, Darty’s revenue fell by 3.6 per cent in local currency, by 6.2 per cent on a like for like basis, and gross margin remained stable.
