Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Friday, November 27, 2009
THE head of the Irish operations of electrical retail group DSG – which operates the Currys and PC World chains – has said that sales promotions here have helped improve sales despite the group’s first half figures showing an 11% drop in sales in its British and Irish division.
New figures for DSG International show that the group generated a pre-tax loss of £17.6 million (€19.4m) for the 24 weeks to the middle of October, down slightly from a loss of £17.7m for the corresponding period last year.
Group sales fell by 1% to £3.33 billion. Sales in DSG’s core British and Irish division (the group also operates in Scandinavia and mainland Europe) fell by 11%, on a year-on-year basis, to £1.62bn.
The group said that it had seen improving trends in its British and Irish electricals division (namely, Currys), during the period. DSG Retail Ireland managing director, Declan Ronayne said, yesterday, that its "UK VAT Range" promotion – basically charging for products, prices that match the British VAT rate – has helped sales here.
Group chief executive John Browett said that DSG is "strongly placed to take advantage of any improved consumer sentiment over the upcoming peak period".
Mr Ronayne has been a vocal lobbyist of the Government to reduce the Republic’s VAT rate – branding its inactivity on the issue, recently, as "an astonishing lack of understanding".
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