Sales jump 30% to €150m as Dixons Ireland plans expansion

DSG Ireland — the electrical goods retailer that operates the Dixons, Currys and PC World brands — is to add 200 jobs over the next 12 months, in existing and new stores.

The jobs will form part of parent group DSG International’s plans to add 3,000 jobs to its pan-European network.

The group’s Irish division was one of the best performing operations in the year to the end of April, showing a 30% increase in sales to €150.5 million.

This was mainly driven by a surge in sales of computers, flat screen televisions and MP3 players, with the ‘World Cup effect’ playing a part in the latter half of the financial year.

DSG Ireland operates 21 stores over the three brands here and has plans to grow further.

“Sales in PC World, Currys and Dixons grew substantially ahead of the market with a notably strong performance from Currys.

“Plans are at an advanced stage for an ambitious store opening programme,” said general manager of DSG Ireland Declan Ronayne.

Six new stores are expected to open — with the focus outside the capital and on the Currys brand, although PC World is also likely to figure. Most of the 200 new jobs will be in the new stores.

DSG International — which trades in Britain, Spain, Scandinavia, Italy, France and parts of eastern

Europe — reported a 6% rise in revenues to €10.8 billion, but also recorded a drop of 9% in pre-tax profits, to €441.6m.