Tough market conditions hit consumer electronics retailer

Comet posts ?8.1m loss

Kesa Electricals has revealed that its UK chain Comet made a half-year loss of £8.1m for the period up until October, with the retail chain blaming deteriorating market conditions for the results.

That was in stark contrast to its £10.6m profit for the same period in 2007.

Revenues were also down from £785m in 2007 by eight per cent to £723m. Like-for-like sales were also down at 5.5 per cent, with the retailer warning that trading would remain tough over the key Christmas period.

Group-wide, Kesa made a profit of £13m, though that was down from £45m a year ago.

"The economic climate across Europe has created very tough trading conditions for all our businesses, particularly in the UK and Spain," warned chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue, who steps down at the end of January.

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