Kesa sales up despite poor H2 for Comet

European electricals titan on course for £5bn revenue but UK arm stutters for the second year in a row

Euro millions: Operations in France and Spain provided a top line boost for Kesa

Continental retail giant Kesa Electricals is set to grow full-year sales to more than £5bn, but UK high street heavyweight Comet remains the group's laggard.

A trading update for the year to the end of April, based on unaudited management accounts, reveals total group sales grew 4.2 per cent year on year. The firm's Darty France operation boosted turnover by 7.9 per cent, while sales spiked by 10.9 per cent across Kesa's developing businesses. Revenue was more-or-less flat in other established units, which includes brands in the Benelux countries.

UK arm Comet suffered a 0.4 per cent drop in sales after a poor second half to the year, which saw turnover fall by 3.4 per cent. But the trading update stressed that, in the year's final quarter, "Comet both maintained its market share and improved its gross margin trend".

This is the second year in a row the UK stalwart has been a poor performer. Last time out, Comet posted a sales decline of 4.7 per cent, despite group revenue growing by almost a tenth.

Kesa expects pre-tax profit of £76m for FY10, compared with a loss of £81.8m last year. Group revenue last year stood at £4.95bn, of which Comet contributed £1.66bn. Full 2010 results will be reported on 23 June.

Kesa chief executive Thierry Falque-Pierrotin said: "We are satisfied that overall the group traded in line with or ahead of its markets during this seasonally quiet period and we are encouraged by the improvement we have seen in gross margin.

"We are also pleased that our strategic focus on the developing businesses and cross-channel sales is bearing fruit with a strong like-for-like performance at our developing businesses and a substantial increase in web-generated sales. "