Kesa Slumps

Two of the top three electricals retailers in Europe deliver their results this week. Today it was the turn of Kesa Electricals. Tomorrow it will be DSGi.

At the top line, Kesa's revenues increased by 9.8% to £4.95bn, but in constant currency revenues declined by 1.2%, while on a like-for-like basis, revenues declined by 6.2%. Retail profit for the group was £77mn, down from £141mn for the previous 12 months. This decline was principally due to a significant decline in profits at Comet [down from £43mn to £10mn], and at Menaje del Hogar [down from a loss of £1.8mn to a loss of £23mn].

Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, CEO at Kesa, said that: "Darty France, and our established businesses in The Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, all maintained their market positions and improved gross margins". But in the UK, he said that actions have been taken, "to mitigate the impact of market conditions".