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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/comet-suffers-festive-sales-drop.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Sales at Comet were affected by the cold weather during the festive season" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-comet-suffers-festive-sales-drop.jpg" alt="Sales at Comet were affected by the cold weather during the festive season"/></a></p>
<p>Comet parent company Kesa Electricals has warned of a full-year loss for its UK operation after festive sales plunged by 7.3%.</p>
<p>Kesa blamed strong competition and the extreme weather for its like-for-like sales disappointment between November 1 and January 18.</p>
<p>It said record trading since Christmas failed to offset last month&#8217;s woes while the VAT hike on January 4 caused the new year recovery to soften.</p>
<p>Kesa now expects to report a small full-year retail loss for Comet and cautioned overall group profits for the period to April 30 were set to come in at the lower end of market forecasts.</p>
<p>The poor performance in the UK was mirrored in Kesa&#8217;s Italian, Turkish and Spanish operations, where it trades as Darty. These markets saw like-for-like sales drop 8.8%, leaving group sales down 4% despite more resilient trading at Darty France.</p>
<p>The pre-Christmas snowfall in Britain, together with adverse weather in France, the Netherlands and Belgium during its key trading period, knocked at least 2% off sales, said Kesa.</p>
<p>Kesa said Comet was forced into heavy discounting amid an increasingly competitive market against rivals such as Currys owner Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse&#8217;s Best Buy joint venture.</p>
<p>This left Comet&#8217;s profit margins down over the Christmas period while the chain was also hampered by a slowdown in internet sales after the introduction of a new software platform in November. Online sales rose 3%, against 8% in the half-year.</p>
<p>The news sent shares more than 8% lower, with retail experts at Investec Securities describing the Comet sales result as &#8220;horrible&#8221;.</p>
<p>Kesa officials said they had put in place a &#8220;number of additional measures&#8221; to improve revenue and cut costs, such as ramping up customer service and expanding its online offering with a greater focus on its &#8216;click and collect&#8217; service.</p>
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