The rapid advance in Ireland of electrical retail giant DSG International gathered significant pace before the Christmas shopping season with the PC World, Dixons and Currys stores taking in sales of €82.5 million in the 28 weeks to November 11th.

With a weak performance in Italy and France dragging DSG's shares in London down by almost 12 per cent yesterday, interim top line figures from Europe's biggest electrical goods retailer show that its like-for-like Irish sales were up 14 per cent in the period before the Christmas shopping season began in earnest. Total sales in the Irish unit grew 28 per cent.

The group opened new stores in Naas, Sligo and Carrickmines in the period and another four opened in Cork and Navan in time for the December rush. Like-for-like Irish sales grew by 8 per cent in the eight weeks to January 6th against the same period a year ago while total sales grew 34 per cent.

DSG did not reveal the actual sales figure for this period but its Irish growth was ahead of the group average. "All chains in Ireland performed strongly with the three new stores added during the period," said DSG.

Group sales rose 3 per cent in the eight weeks to January 6th and interim profits slid 25 per cent to £78.9 million (€120.14 million) in the 28 weeks to November.

The group is a big beneficiary of the Irish property boom and the increase in retail spending. It has made significant inroads here in a retail segment once dominated by Irish-owned rivals such as Power City and DID. Power City posted annual revenues of €89.19 million in its most recent accounts and DID posted revenues of €75.8 million.

Total sales in the 28 weeks to November were up 14 per cent at £3.7 billion.