Comet Electricals

Comet goes right back to 1933 when it was established by George Hollingbery as a wireless set (radio) battery charging business. At the time they were called Comet Battery Stores. This was on the North East of England in a place called Hull. Business develops and they diversify in to the radio rental business. The electrical retail business expanded during the 50s and 60s. The first Comet electrical store opened in Hull. During the 1970s times were good for Comet and they continued to grow and became a publicly listed company. The 80s was a time of mergers and buyouts. They were eventually bought out by Paternoster Stores later to become Kingfisher plc who owned Woolworths and B&Q. In 2003 Comet became part of (Kesa) Kingfisher Electricals SA. Kesa was demerged from Kingfisher. By 2011 after suffering sustained losses Comet was sold to private equity firm OpCapita for just £2. Strangely Kesa also gave OpCapita £50m as part of the deal. This £50m supposedly to cover outstanding warranties of already purchased items. Surprisingly OpCapita failed to improve the fortunes of Comet. In November 2012, Comet entered administration. The comet.co.uk website became unreachable to customers. It did come back online in November to direct customers to stores that were selling the liquidated electrical stock. All shops and stock were liquidated and shut by 18 December. Administrators were brought in (Deloitte) but they failed to find a buyer for Comet. The real victims of this notable brand closing are all the hard-working staff who lost their jobs and income just before Christmas.