Kesa, the electricals retailer, said that strong sales of kitchen appliances and flat-screen TVs had helped its Comet chain to take market share from rival Currys over Christmas.

Shares in Kesa rose 3p to 346p yesterday as many analysts upgraded profit forecasts to about £167 million on a better than expected performance at Comet, the BUT furniture and electricals chain and the group’s operations in Italy, Turkey and Switzerland. Some analysts had expected profits to be as low as £161 million.

Kesa’s performance was in stark contrast to rival DSG International, which saw shares slump the day before as it revealed slower than expected growth at its Currys chain and further difficulties at its UniEuro chain in Italy.

Jean-Noël Labroue, Kesa’s chief executive, said: “Sales remained robust over our peak pre and post-Christmas trading period and all our businesses delivered good revenue performances.”

Underlying sales at Comet rose 7.5 per cent in the ten weeks to January 8 against the same period a year before, while total sales rose 7.7 per cent for the period.

In contrast, Currys said that both underlying and total sales had risen by just 1 per cent.

Comet’s trading figures were partly assisted by comparison against poor sales in the same period a year before, but the chain still outperformed its rival judged on a two-year basis.

It was also boosted by a 20 per cent rise in sales over its internet site.

Kesa insisted that it had not boosted sales by increased discounting, although the company admitted that gross margins were down by about 1 percentage point year on year.

The retailer said that margins had fallen because a higher proportion of its sales were now made up by products that commanded lower margins.

Analysts said that margins had fallen in line with expectations, but that sales growth at all Kesa’s chains except Darty, its flagship French brand, had outperformed expectations.

Aymeric Poulain, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said: “The product cycle and an upturn in the French household goods cycle remain supportive. In addition, we see Kesa’s service-led specialist concept as a likely beneficiary of the digital convergence.”

Analysts said that the strong performance was likely to be offset to some extent by the weakness of the euro against the pound.

Sales growth is also expected to slow this year as the rapid growth in sales of flat-screen televisions diminishes. Last year sales of big televisions were lifted as families prepared to enjoy the World Cup on a large screen.

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