Dixons shares suffer on news of Browett being poached by Apple

By Nathalie Thomas
Published on Wednesday 1 February 2012 00:00

John Browett, the City high-flier who revived Dixons Retail, shocked the markets yesterday when it was revealed he had been poached by Apple to become its senior vice-president of retail.

Shares in Dixons, which owns the Currys and PC World brands, slumped 7 per cent as analysts expressed dismay at his departure. The electrical chain is one of the few retailers currently favoured by the City and its stock had risen by about half since a trading statement on 17 January, when the company reported a solid performance against a tough trading environment.

Investec analyst David Jeary said Browett’s resignation would be “negative for sentiment” even though he rates his successor, Sebastian James, who is currently group operations director. “John Browett has been the figurehead of the Dixons renewal and transformation,” Jeary said.

Dixons moved yesterday to bolster its top management team and also announced the promotion of Katie Bickerstaffe as chief executive of UK and Ireland. Bickerstaffe has been with the group since 2008 and was behind the successful re-launch of its technical support service “Knowhow”.

Browett will leave Dixons in April, almost four-and-a- half years after joining from Tesco, where he was also highly rated.

He is credited with changing Dixons’ fortunes following a period of lacklustre performance and arming it with the tools to survive the harsh trading conditions on Britain’s high streets.

Although profits and sales have been under pressure in recent months, it has fared well compared to competitors, with Carphone Warehouse and US giant Best Buy deciding to scrap their “big box” megastores.

At Apple, Browett will oversee 361 stores worldwide from the technology giant’s base in California.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple’s retail business generated $6.1 billion (£3.9bn) in revenues through the sale of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

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