Satellite navigation systems, flatscreen TVs and laptops helped electrical retailer DSG Ireland to an 8 per cent rise in sales in Ireland in the year to the end of April.
The Dixons, Currys and PC World owner saw like for like sales rise to €195 million over the period, during which it opened seven new stores. Total sales for the 28 stores grew by 29 per cent, the company said yesterday.
Declan Ronayne, managing director, DSG Ireland, said the company was on track to increase the number of Currys in the Republic to 30 by 2010 by developing franchise partnerships with independent retailers.
DSG recently announced its first Currys franchise operation in Letterkenny and owns a further eight Currys stores itself. Three more Currys outlets are planned for this year.
Mr Ronayne said it had no plans to rebrand its eight Dixons stores as Currys Digital, as DSG has done in its UK operation.
Dixons in the UK is a pure play online retailer, but Mr Ronayne said DSG Ireland was waiting for broadband services to develop sufficiently before it moved to online trading in the Republic.
"We have other fish to fry," Mr Ronayne said.
Satellite navigation, or satnav, is expected to be the company's top-selling product next Christmas. Although sales have been strong, penetration of large, flat-panel TVs is still in single digits, Mr Ronayne said, meaning that there was plenty of potential for growth. The development of broadband was starting to be reflected in higher sales of laptops, he added.
The company employs more than 700 people in Ireland.
DSG Ireland's parent company, DSG International, yesterday published disappointing full-year results, with overseas problems denting its profits.
The pan-European electrical retailer announced a 5 per cent fall in pretax profit to £295 million in the 12 months to the end of April. This was largely the result of a restructuring at its loss-making Italian operation, UniEuro. Full-year sales were up 14 per cent at almost £8 billion, with like for like sales rising 4 per cent.
The company said that it had decided not to enter the Russian market after a review of how other overseas companies had fared there. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)
