LONDON (Reuters UK) - Electrical goods retailer Kesa (KESA) posted a bigger-than-expected 4.7 percent drop in first-quarter underlying sales on Wednesday and said trading conditions had not improved so far in the second quarter.
The firm said sales at stores open at least a year fell 3.2 percent at French market leader Darty in the three months to July 31 and dropped 9.9 percent at No.2 Comet.
Analysts had expected like-for-like sales to be within a range of flat to down 2 percent at Darty, and to fall by between 3 percent and 5 percent at Comet, according to a Reuters poll.
Kesa said Comet was hit by particularly weak demand for so-called "white goods" such as washing machines and refrigerators, and that it now expected the division to make a loss in the first half of its financial year.
Product margins at Darty, meanwhile, remained stable, the group said in a trading update.
Many European retailers are struggling as shoppers cut back on spending, particularly on expensive items like laptops and TVs, amid rising fuel and food costs.
Kesa shares have approximately halved in value over the past year and have underperformed the DJ Stoxx European retail index by 35 percent over the same period.
Bigger rival DSG International (DSGI), which trades as PC World and Currys in Britain, UniEuro in Italy and Elkjop in Nordic countries, last week reported a 7 percent fall in like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks to August 23.
Kesa shares closed at 158 pence on Tuesday, valuing the business at about 837 million pounds.
(Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by Louise Ireland)
