page_title: Comet Group
section_title: Global economic crisis (2007–12)
hierarchical_section_title: Comet Group / History / Global economic crisis (2007–12)
caption_attribution_description: English: Comet electrical retailer on Briggate, Leeds. Taken on a Saturday in November 2009.
context_page_description: Comet Group Limited, trading as Comet, is an electrical retail chain based in the United Kingdom. The company sells consumer electronics and white goods, along with related products and services, and pioneered the concept of the out-of-town discount warehouse in the United Kingdom. Before its collapse, it was the UK's second biggest electrical retailer, with 6,000 staff and over 200 stores.
  The company was formed in 1933 by George Hollingbery as a business charging batteries for customers on a weekly basis. The business grew and diversified into radio rentals, and the first store opened in the 1950s. Comet expanded during the 1960s and 1970s, and became a publicly listed company in 1972. The company was purchased by Woolworths, owned by Paternoster Stores in 1984.
  In 2003, Comet was spun out of Kingfisher Group to become part of Kesa. In 2011, following sustained losses, Kesa sold the company to private equity firm OpCapita for a token £2. The firm entered administration in November 2012, and all stores and their stock were liquidated and closed by 18 December.
context_section_description: In September 2007, at the beginning of the financial crisis, KESA warned that its prospects in the United Kingdom were "uncertain" as the credit crunch and higher interest rates could lead to consumers cutting back their spending on new electrical products. Analysts at Landsbanki said: "[W]e see serious long run threats to electrical retailing from the growth of the internet, the proliferation of competition and the resultant downward pressure on prices and margins."
  In June 2009, KESA posted a pre tax loss of £81.8 million in the 12 months to 30 April 2009, compared to a profit of £128.8 million in the previous year. Over the same period, Comet's retail profit fell by 76.5% to £10.1 million. In April 2010, United States-based Best Buy, the world's largest electrical goods retailer, opened its first store in Thurrock, Essex, with a plan to open one hundred out-of-town warehouses over the following four years.
  In September 2010, a new logo was launched, similar to the previous logo, but "softer" in design. The Comet name was in lowercase, and accompanied by a new strapline, "Come and Play". The branding aimed to project a more fun and friendly image, and customers were encouraged to come into the store to try out interactive displays.
  Higher taxes, wage freezes and the rising cost of food and essential purchases combined to keep consumer spending on discretionary purchases low and in June 2011 Comet posted a loss – its first in 16 years – of £8.9 million. The "brutal consumer recession" had, said retail analyst Neil Saunders, left the market "in quite a steep decline and with consumers not buying in the way they had the previous decade."
  In November 2011, in the same week that Best Buy announced that it was closing its eleven United Kingdom stores due to "tough conditions," KESA announced that it had sold Comet to investment firm OpCapita for a nominal £2. KESA would also provide a £46.8 million 'dowry' of working capital, and retain all the pension liabilities for employees on pre-existing defined benefit schemes.
  Two weeks before the firm entered administration, OpCapita announced they were exploring options to sell the chain, after only twelve months of ownership.
caption: In the late 2000s, Comet experimented with High Street branches such as this on Briggate in Leeds. They were closed shortly afterwards.
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