Electrical Goods Retailer DSG Warns on Profit

April 16,2008  From www.tootoo.com

April 16--Pan-European electrical goods retailer DSG International has issued its second profit warning in three months, saying it was increasingly having to cut prices to maintain sales.

The group, whose store chains include Dixons, Currys and PC World in Ireland and Britain, UniEuro in Italy and Elkjop in Nordic countries, said it now expected annual underlying profit before tax to be within a range of £200-210m sterling.

In a profit warning in January, DSG signalled underlying profit would be around £250m.

'The trading environment since we last reported has remained challenging across our markets, particularly in the UK, Italy and Spain,' CEO John Browett said in a statement.

'Whilst like-for-like sales patterns are broadly in line with those we reported over the Christmas period, it is clear that customers have become increasingly promotion and deal driven, impacting gross margins,' he added.

Like-for-like sales were down 1% in the 25 weeks to April 5, while like-for-like gross margins were down around 0.8% in the period.

Editor: Haijing Qu