Comet firm sees sales spark

Comet owner Kesa today said strong demand for items such as flat-screen televisions boosted trading over the key Christmas period.

The group, which also owns Darty and BUT in France, joined rivals such as Dixons in saying shoppers snapped up high-tech gifts – while shunning more traditional household items.

However, it warned annual results would be at the lower end of hopes as its But chain continued to face “aggressive” competition.

Chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue said: “Following a difficult November, all our electrical businesses experienced better sales performances in the key peak trading period.

“As predicted, this was driven by strong sales in new technologies while sales of the more traditional white goods continued to be weak.”

Although same-store sales at Comet were 2% lower between November 1 and January 8, this was an improvement on the 3.1% decline seen in the previous three months.