Kesa Electricals turned the screw on rival DSG International by revealing that Comet enjoyed its best Christmas for at least three years.

Europe's third-biggest electricials retailer said that like-for-like sales at its UK chain soared 7.5 per cent between November 1 and January 8.

The improvement was far better than the City had expected - and comes in stark contrast to the gloom at DSG, home to Currys and PC World.

DSG's shares took a near £500 million hit yesterday after John Clare, the chief executive, reported that sales at Currys rose by only 1 per cent over the key Christmas period.

Jean-Noel Labroue, chief executive of Kesa, said that Comet had benefited from the boom in flat-screen televisions and a pick-up in demand for white goods such as fridge-freezers and washing machines.

Comet, which has 249 stores across the UK, was also helped by weak comparative numbers a year ago, when sales fell 2 per cent.

However, its showing is the best since Kesa was formed by the demerger from Kingfisher in 2003.

Sales across Kesa, which also owns the French chains Darty and BUT, rose 6.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Mr Labroue said: "Sales remained robust over our peak pre and post-Christmas trading period and all our businesses delivered good revenue performances."

Kesa is expected to report pre-tax profits of between £161 million and £171 million for the full-year to January 31.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax