Strong sales in Scandinavia lift DSG shares despite slump in UK stores

Published on 02/09/2009 21:05

A BETTER-than-expected performance in Scandinavia posted by electricals giant DSG International yesterday took the sting out of continuing tough trading in the UK.

DSG revealed that UK electricals like-for-like sales slumped 14 per cent in the 16 weeks to 22 August as the recession continued to bite. UK computing sales slid 15 per cent.

But group chief executive John Browett said that the business in Norway and Sweden was much stronger, driving same-floorspace sales up 9 per cent.

DSG's group like-for-like sales were down 6 per cent. "Given the challenging environment, this is an encouraging start to the year," Browett said.

The group's shares closed up 2.7 per cent at 27.73p.

Freddie George, retail analyst at broker Seymour Pierce, said: "UK figures were worse than expected, but this was largely overridden by the fact the performance in Norway and Sweden was better than expected."

DSG's sales in southern and central Europe were off 7 per cent, which analysts said was also better than expected.

The UK performance was hit by strong comparatives fuelled by price cuts for televisions a year ago, as well as "significantly lower" demand for computers from businesses.

DSG runs Currys and PC World in Britain, Elkjop in the Nordic region and UniEuro in Italy.