Kesa falls to a loss and changes name Kesa Electricals, the electrical retailer that sold its UK operations for £2, is to change its name to Darty after falling to an annual pre-tax loss of more than €300m. The troubled retailer on Wednesday reported exceptional charges of €274m following the disposal of Comet in February, and booked additional costs of €70m related to its struggling divisions in recession-hit Italy and Spain. The charges dragged Kesa to a pre-tax loss of €314m for the year to April 30, down from a profit of €30.7m a year ago, prompting the pan-European retailer to halve its full-year dividend. "Poor sales, weak gross margins and operational gearing have taken their toll on Kesa," said Philip Dorgan at Panmure Gordon. The problem is that we cannot see it getting any better any time soon. Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, Kesa chief executive, said the group had implemented a raft of cost saving measures, including the axing of 800 jobs from Kesa's Darty stores in France and the closure of five outlets in Spain and four in Italy. Markets throughout Europe were exceptionally difficult. The group took some major steps to realign its business portfolio ... and reduce costs," he said. Although Kesa is listed in London it trades exclusively in continental Europe under the Darty brand following the February sale of Comet's 245 UK stores. Kesa has more than 450 outlets across Europe and has moved to rename itself Darty from July 31. David Newlands, Kesa chairman, declined to rule out the sale of any of Kesa's underperforming divisions such as Italy or Spain. "I don't think in business you can never say never," said Mr Newlands, who will be replaced as chairman in September by Alan Parker, who also heads the board of children's wear retailer Mothercare. The sale of Comet to OpCapita, the investment firm, included a cash "dowry" of £50m from Kesa to compensate for property liabilities on its stores, and the retention of its pension liabilities. Revenues fell back from €4.1bn to €4bn, which Mr Falque-Pierrotin blamed on poor sales of televisions, as well as intense competition from online rivals. Kesa swung from earnings per share of 6 cents to a loss of 59.2 cents, and the final dividend of 1.25 cents (compared with 4.75 cents last year) brought the total payout for the year to 34.5 cents - half the 7 cents paid a year ago. The shares fell 4.5 per cent to 52.75p in early London trading.