Like-for-likes dropped 5.5 per cent in the period, with group revenue climbing 0.4 per cent to£2.2 billion.
Its UK chain Comet posted retail losses of£8.1 million, on last year’s profits of£10.6 million. Like-for-likes dropped 11.6 per cent.
The retailer said that “in a particularly tough economic climate”, Comet delivered total revenue of£723.3 million, down 7.9 per cent on the same period last year.
Kesa said its French chain Darty delivered a “solid performance” with market share gains. Total revenue fell by 0.7 per cent in local currency compared to the same period last year, down 3.8 per cent on a like for like basis.
Its Spanish chain Menaje del Hogar made losses of£8.7 million.
During the period, the group signed a five-year €500 million revolving credit facility expiring in 2013, replacing the existing €650 million facility which was due to expire in 2010.
It said it will remain focussed on cash generation by closely managing stock levels, capital expenditure, margin and costs to take the group through the current difficult trading environment and maintain a strong balance sheet.
Kesa chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue said: “The economic climate across Europe has created very tough trading conditions for all our businesses, particularly in the UK and Spain. However, Darty in France and our established businesses in Holland, Belgium and the Czech Republic have demonstrated good resilience and our start up operations in Italy and Turkey continued to make further progress.
“I am satisfied that our strict focus on cash management, stock and capital expenditure, along with margin management and cost control, has allowed us to maintain a strong balance sheet.
"This will remain a priority for the Group and will help us manage the business through what will be a very difficult peak trading period as we do not expect consumer confidence to improve for the rest of the financial year.”
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