Electrical goods company DSG, which trades in Ireland as Currys and PC World, today reported a further deterioration in sales and profit margins for the key Christmas period and said it was planning further cost cuts.
"We expect 2009 to be challenging across most of our markets and are actively planning and managing the business for negative like-for-likes," said Chief Executive John Browett, adding that his renewal and transformation plan for the group was "on
track".
Prior to today's update shares in DSG had slumped 74 per cent over the past year, hit by the consumer downturn, worries over US rival Best Buy's entry into Europe next year and concerns over the withdrawal of credit insurance for suppliers.
At 8.40am the stock was down 1.25 pence, or 6.25 per cent, at 18.75 pence, valuing the business at 332 million pounds ($485.3 million) - just two weeks' sales.
The firm, whose store chains include Currys and PC World in Britain, Elkjop in the Nordic region and UniEuro in Italy, said its sales at stores open at least one year fell 10 per cent over the 12 weeks to January 10th.
This compares to analysts' forecasts of a drop in like-for-like sales of between 7 and 12 per cent, and a fall of 7 per cent in the first half to October 18th.
Like-for-like sales slumped 12 per cent in the UK & Ireland electricals division and were down 13 per cent in UK computing.
DSG said group like-for-like sales were up 2 per cent in the final two weeks of the 10-week period as customers waited for the post Christmas sales to buy discretionary products, particularly televisions and laptops.
Gross profit margins were down 0.8 per cent year-on-year, having been down 70 basis points in the first half, reflecting the increased proportion of revenue in the sale period.
In response to the tough trading environment, DSG has identified a further £20 million of cost savings, bringing total savings to £95 million for the year to the end of April 2009.