Mon, 16 May 2011 | BUSINESS SALE
Electrical retailer Comet faces being sold off by its owner Kesa Electricals as it finds ways to cope with the still-tough trading conditions in the UK.
Chief executive Thiery Falque-Pierrotin predicted that the British market will be “the toughest in Europe in the year to come.”
Sales at Comet’s 250 stores saw like-for-like sales fall by 15.2 per cent in the 16 weeks to May on a year-on-year basis. Kesa expects that sales will dive down even further this year.
Kesa’s biggest shareholder Knight Vinke – with an 18 per cent holding - has placed the group under pressure to realise more value for investors.
Another option to be explored for Comet is a restructuring process. UBS, an advisor to Kesa, expects that Knight Vinke will push for a sale however.
Kesa is expected to avoid a pre-pack administration or CVA for its struggling UK operations.
Selling Comet would enable Kesa to exit the UK and to focus on its profitable businesses, including the Darty electricals retailer in France and the BCC retailer in the Netherlands.
Comet’s revenues accounted for a third of Kesa’s sales of £5.1 billion for 2010. Sales have been flagging for the past three years. A rebranding was implemented in September to help the retailer compete with warehouse-type stores such as Best Buy Europe.
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