PC World-owner Dixons’ posted a “great year” in the UK, with profits up 39% – but posted losses overall because of heavy restructuring costs.
The growth follows the closure of rival Comet, as well as troubles for other high-street stores including HMV and Jessops.
While overall full-year profits were up 15% to £94.5 million, and up 39% in the UK and Ireland, that’s before charges of £210 million, from the restructuring of online store Pixmania and the “disposal” of IT solutions firm Equanet. Sales in southern Europe also continued to struggle.
The PC retailers’ success in the UK has been helped by booming tablet sales, with triple-digit growth contributing to the region’s “great year”, said CEO Sebastian James, according to Reuters.
He predicted another “big tablet Christmas”, saying the market had more room to grow. “Less than a third of UK households now have a tablet and we also think these are personal devices so there’s lots of road left in this particular product,” James said.
“And there’s going to be some further product innovation as these tablets get thinner and lighter and more powerful,” he added.
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