Comet is the UK's second biggest electrical retailer

The comments come despite a 12.1% rise in group sales to �937.3m ($1.6bn) in the 13 weeks to November 1.

Kesa, formerly the electrical retail arm of home improvement giant Kingfisher, said sales at Comet rose 3.1% to �343.1m.

The UK company also operates the Darty and BUT chains in France.

Weaker trend

Chief executive Jean-Noel Labroue said that despite an encouraging start "the overall trends in the quarter have borne out our previous caution for our second half".

Comet made good progress at the beginning of the quarter, reflecting demand for major domestic appliances and multimedia and digital products.

However, that was followed by a much weaker showing in October - a trend mirrored at the group's Darty chain.

Kesa, which has almost 800 outlets across Europe, demerged from Kingfisher in July.

Two months later, the company announced an 8% fall in profits to �52.8m for the six months to 2 August.