Member Article

"Phenomenal" tablet sales surge at Dixons

Sales at electronics retailer Dixons were up 7% over the Christmas period, boosted by “phenomenal” tablet sales across the Group’s markets.

The Curry’s and PC World owner posted like-for-like sales increases of 8% in the UK and Ireland during the 12 weeks to the 5th January, despite many consumers flocking to defunct competitor, Comet, for bargain-priced electronics.

Pixmania, the firms online shopping platform, yielded “disappointing” returns, which chief executive Sebastian James said would be combated with restructuring plans to give the company “a better financial footing.”

Mr James continued: “Customers continue to respond to our excellent range of products, compelling offers, seamless approach to multi-channel and improving service levels, and we continue to benefit from capacity exiting these markets.

“In Italy and Greece I was pleased to see our businesses trading ahead of weak local markets and continuing to manage profitability robustly.

“Tablet sales were phenomenal across our markets, which was good to see but which impacted overall headline margins somewhat. White goods were also strong, particularly in the UK.”

Group gross margins decreased by 0.5%, which Dixons said was driven by product mix, and underlying pre-tax profits were as anticipated and in line with market expectations of £75m to £85m.

Mr James concluded: “In the year ahead, while we will manage our cost base cautiously, we see many opportunities to improve the overall performance of our Group through further developments in our service offer for customers, sharing best practice, controlling costs and focusing on multi-channel growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .