Dixons talk up PCs, mobile phones

Dixons has issued an bullish assessment of a sales recovery in mobile phones and PCs, following big slumps in the year to April 27 2002.

The UK's biggest retailer of PCs says that unit sales rose slgithly against a backdrop of 21 per cent drop in the market in the last FY. Mobile phone sales were wobbly, but nothing like the market as a whole, down 33 per cent, following the reduction of handset subsidies by network operators.

But Jeremy Darroch, Dixons Group financial director, reckons the worst is over – mobile phone sales will return in line with other markets, aided by new technology coming on stream over the next year.

He's even more bullish about the PC market in the UK, pointing to its potential for growth. The drivers are penetration – less than the US – education – plenty of initiatives fueling sales; and the trend towards multiple PC ownership in households.

Group sales advanced five percent to £4.9bn, although group sales were unchanged. Full year profits before tax (before exceptionals) were £297m – hitting the mid spot of analyst forecasts (2000: £277.9m). This makes Dixons comfortably Europe’s most profitable PC retailer. ®

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