Tablet sales help drive profit leap for Dixons

Booming sales of the latest tablet computers drove a leap in profits for Dixons last year.

The owner of PC World and Currys reported further progress in its recovery. Picture: PA

The owner of PC World and Currys reported further progress in its recovery, with earnings from its UK and Ireland operations jumping 39 per cent in the year to the end of April.

Alongside £45 million of cost-cutting measures – the first half of a planned two-year programme – the chain’s domestic performance helped offset dwindling takings from cash-strapped southern Europe.

Overall, underlying pre-tax profit was up 15 per cent to £94.5m and group like-for-like sales were ahead 4 per cent.

Chief executive Sebastian James forecast “another big tablet Christmas” to come.

“Less than a third of UK households now have a tablet and we also think these are personal devices so there’s lots of road left in this particular product,” he noted. He said that the group’s return to growth, and also to a net cash position, marked an important milestone in its transition “from survivor to winner”, and was the result of a “fundamental shift in our trading philosophy” rather than short-term changes.

Analysts agreed that the company is on the mend.

Ronnie Chopra, head of strategy at Tradenext, said: “Dixons results typify the leaps and bounds made by the company over the last couple of years.”