Though Kesa's sales and underlying profits rose in the six months to the end of July, reported retail profit fell by 20% after the impact of investment costs. These included the launch of the triple-play Darty Box in France, expansion in Turkey and Switzerland, and to a lesser extent the loss of trading whilst mezzanines were being built at Comet (accounting for a £2 million loss of profit).

Chief executive Jean-Noël Labroue said: "Trading conditions for the second half of the year are uncertain, particularly in the UK. As always, our full year performance is reliant on our key peak trading period in the fourth quarter of the year and we will remain focused on cost control, cash and margin management and operational efficiencies."

For the six months, Comet's sales increased to £706 million, up by 3% on last year, but less than 1% like-for-like. Flat screen televisions and laptops did well, but sales of white goods were flat. The retail loss of £1 million compared with a £5 million profit last year, which admittedly included a lease premium.

Customer care at Comet

Comet continues to invest in customer service. A total of 62,000 e-learning courses have been completed, designed to help in-store and call-centre staff develop product knowledge and selling skills. The coverage of 'Comet on Call', launched in March to provide expert PC and laptop support for home and small business customers, has been extended to all stores. And the success of stores with mezzanine floors has encouraged the company to accelerate such investment. Seven were converted in the first half, with five more planned in the second. In addition, three new stores will open, bringing the total to 252 outlets.

'Click and collect' helped Comet make “significant progress with on-line sales”, which were up by 23%. In total the web accounts for around “8 to 9%” of its total turnover.

The City remains uneasy about prospects, and on the day of the announcement, shares were marked down to a year-low (a fall of over 20% in that time), but they have since recovered about half the decline.

Leaving present

DSG's share price has been through an even more torrid time, declining by about 40% in a year, with far less sign of any recent recovery, despite the continuing share buy-back programme.

A few days before he stepped down, group chief executive John Clare was able to report better than expected trading for the sixteen weeks to 18 August, with sales at Currys and Dixons rising by 5% like-for-like, and at PC World by six. However, margins were hit by the need for extra promotional activity to reduce computer stocks.

The delay in his successor John Browett arriving is clearly not helping build short-term confidence.

So too Clare's comments about future trading: “Whilst the year has started well we remain cautious about the outlook for the consumer in the UK and across much of the rest of Europe in a higher interest rate environment ... and it is much too early to extrapolate trends out for the rest of the year, especially with the important peak trading period still ahead. We are confident that our focus on serving the needs of our customers, retail innovation in addition to cost, margin and capital management position will serve us well for the future."

Sounds familiar, and similar comments came from John Lewis chairman Charlie Mayfield who believes “the outlook is more challenging than has been experienced for some time and we expect a tougher trading environment in the coming months”. However, he stressed, caution should not be confused with pessimism.

The first two weeks of August saw its “electricals and home technology” turnover down on last year, but since then trading has improved consistently. August in total was 4% up year-on-year and September six.

John Lewis Direct, now with a revamped website, has seen sales increase by 37% in those nine weeks to September 29.

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