DSGi Business sales in free-fall

The reseller saw first-half sales plummet from £150.8m to £103.2m year on year

Corporate reseller DSGi Business saw revenues nose-dive by nearly a third in its fiscal first-half as customers delayed IT purchases.

The VAR, which comprises the Equanet, PC World Business and MacWarehouse brands, logged sales of £103.2m in the 24 weeks to 17 October, a 32 per cent drop on last year’s haul of £150.8m.

DSGi Business is one of three brands that make up retail giant DSG International’s UK Computing arm, alongside PC World and The TechGuys. It has recently been rocked by the departure of several high-profile staff, including interim boss Martin Dorchester.

In its interim statement, DSGi revealed that total UK Computing sales fell 17 per cent year over year to £580m as customers delayed hardware purchases ahead of Windows 7’s launch.

However, DSGi said it is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, indicating that PC World has experienced like-for-like sales growth since Microsoft’s new operating system debuted on 22 October.

At a group level, DSGi saw underlying sales fall one per cent to £3.33bn. Stripping out new stores, sales fell four per cent during the period.

Underlying pre-tax losses hit £17.6m, a nominal improvement on the £17.7m loss posted a year ago. Total pre-tax losses deducting non-underlying charges fell from £55.6m to £23.1m on an annual comparison.

DSGi chief executive John Browett, said: “We have seen improving trends in a number of our businesses, particularly in recent weeks. While we are cautious about the outlook for 2010, we are well positioned as we enter into peak trading with compelling offers for customers.”