Dixons group bullish after strong Q4

Retail giant posts better than expected financials, helped by iPad sales and competitor 'disarray'

Dixons Retail will continue to manage costs "aggressively" despite posting better than expected fourth-quarter results.

In a trading statement released this week, the Currys/PC World owner revealed its UK & Ireland and Northern Europe businesses put in a "good" performance for the quarter, with Q4 sales up eight per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

However, its Italian and Greek business continues to be affected by continued difficult economic environments.

Year-on-year group sales were up five per cent for the quarter, and the firm revealed it expects full-year group profit before tax to be between £65m and £70m, which is towards the top end of expectations.

In a call with analysts, chief executive Sebastian James, who replaced John Browett earlier this year after he was poached by Apple, said the strong performance of iPads, and "disarray" among Dixons’ competition had helped.

In a statement, he said: “Our overall group performance across the year has been slightly better than we anticipated. We saw a strong end to the year particularly in the UK and Nordics, and it is good to see the work that we have been doing to improve the ranging and service bearing fruit as more customers are choosing us over our competitors.

“However, in southern Europe our businesses have been impacted by the weaker economic environments and issues in the eurozone."

He added: “We have made significant strides in the way we operate over the past four years and we know that we have a clear role, shoulder to shoulder with our customers as we help them to navigate the increasingly complex world of technology.

“We are seeing the benefits of this through our growing market shares and significantly improving customer satisfaction scores.”

He said the firm's KnowHow services business – which is coming up for its first year – is also performing "ahead of expectations".

“Overall, though, our business is in a strong position for the year ahead,” he added.