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The Dixons Group, which owns the Dixons, Currys and PC World retail outlets, said that for the year to 27 April 2002 sales in Ireland amounted to STG55.6 million, up from STG44.2 million in the previous year. Like-for-like sales increased by 8 percent during the period.
The UK-based company said that Ireland had a "strong performance" and that it is opening two new stores in its current financial year, one PC World and one Currys. Already the group has 12 stores here: six Dixons, four Currys and two PC Worlds.
Overall, the Dixons Group had a relatively good year despite the downturn in the UK mobile and PC markets. Group turnover increased by 5 percent to STG4.9 billion, and underlying pre-tax profit was up by 7 percent from the previous year to STG297.2 million.
However, this performance was largely due to the results of its Currys and PC World divisions, and not to its main Dixons brand or its mobile phone retail unit, The Link.
Currys, which sells a mixture of brown and white goods, recorded sales of STG1.6 billion, up 8 percent from the 2000/2001 period. The company said this was due in part to Currys increasing its market share in areas such as widescreen televisions and large domestic appliances.
PC World also increased its sales by the same percentage to STG1.3 billion, despite the PC market declining by 21 percent during the year.
Dixons did not fare so well, with sales down by 2 percent to STG816.1 million, and The Link's sales fell by 18 percent to STG330.8 million, with the mobile market down by 33 percent in terms of units sold.
Generally, the group said it made strong market share gains in widescreen televisions, white goods, games, personal computers and PC-related products.
"The product cycle is a major factor in the group's pattern of growth," the company said in a statement. "New products have driven sales even during the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s. Looking forward, the outlook appears particularly favourable, with a number of new technologies coming onto the market." These, the company said, included large flat-screen televisions, recordable DVD players, PDAs, and wireless home networks. It also said there was potential for recovery in the PC market.
Dixons' adjusted diluted earnings per share were STG0.116, an increase of 13 percent. In early trading on the London Stock Exchange, Dixons was down nearly 2 percent to STG1.9825. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of STG1.90 to STG2.67.
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