LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Home Retail, Britain'sbiggest household goods retailer, posted higher quarterlyunderlying sales both at Argos and its DIY chain Homebase,helped by demand for electronics and big ticket purchases.
The firm said on Thursday sales at Argos stores open over ayear rose 1.9 percent in the 13 weeks to June 1, its fiscalfirst quarter, as sales of tablet computers and TVs offsetdeclines in video gaming and audio.
That compared however with analysts' consensus forecast ofgrowth of 3 percent, according to a company poll of 16, andfollowed a 5.2 percent rise in the final eight week tradingperiod of the 2012-13 year.
At Homebase, Britain's second largest home improvement firmafter Kingfisher's B&Q, like-for-like sales grew 1.4percent, slightly less than the company expected, which itblamed on the unfavourable weather.
It was better than analysts expected, however. They forecast a 1.4 percent fall, following four quarters of declinein 2012-13.