Jobs safe at Currys and Dixons

THE Irish operations of DSG International — the electronic goods retail group which operates the Currys, PC World and Dixons Travel brands — will not suffer any job losses as its parent continues to cut costs across the group.

DSG yesterday reported a first half pre-tax loss of £11.4 million (€13.5m) and flat revenue of £3.35 billion for the period up to October 16 last; adding that trading conditions in its core British and Ireland division (the group also operates in Scandinavia and across six countries in mainland Europe) remained challenging over the period.

DSG is in the midst of a three-year restructuring programme, aimed at reducing costs by about £150m; with £50m of cuts already having been met.

However, this is not expected to affect the Irish operations, which saw positive like-for-like sales growth in the group’s second quarter and has added to its workforce by 80 people since the beginning of this year.

The opening of a new Currys/ PC World two-in-one store in Cork — due to be the biggest electrical goods store in Ireland — was due to come about before the end of this year, but has been put back until the second half of next year due to initial planning restrictions.

If this had opened on time, DSG Ireland would have passed the 100 person mark, in terms of job creation this year.

DSG Ireland managing director, Declan Ronayne, said yesterday that while continuing poor consumer sentiment levels are a concern, the actions DSG has taken here over the past 18 months have stood the business in good stead and helped it to return to sales growth.

Overall group chief executive, John Browett, said that management remains cautious over the economic outlook across many of its geographical markets, as consumer confidence remains low.

“However, we’ve maintained our momentum in transforming the group and are performing ahead of the market,” he added.