Shares in Kesa Electricals took a battering on Wednesday after the Anglo-French retailer warned that its Comet chain was making losses.

Across the group, like-for-like sales fell 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year to the end of July, with Comet showing a 9.9 per cent drop in comparable store sales and a 6.6 per cent fall in total sales.