Fish market

14 May 2003

Investors might think Kesa, the electricals business, is suitably unloved. And Dixons is a natural buyer for Darty, the French unit. But Dixons would have to flog off the other bits. Plus, it looks like the UK group has too much on its plate to take the initiative.

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Kingfisher expects to complete the demerger of Kesa, its electricals retailing unit, in July. The new group will be listed in London and Paris.

Last year, Kesa had sales of £3.8bn and made £184m of operating profit. Kingfisher has apportioned about £400m of debt to the new group. Kesa is made up of French market leader Darty, electricals and furniture retailer BUT and the UK's second largest electricals retailer, Comet.

Kingfisher, which owns the B&Q chain of home improvement stores, is expected to have £1.1bn of debt following the demerger.

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