Electrical retailer Dixons revealed this morning it had a robust Christmas trading period as it unveiled first half profits which beat analysts' expectations.
The company, which owns Currys and PC World as well as the Dixons chain and has nine outlets in the State, posted an underlying pretax profit before losses from its Freeserve internet unit of £90.8 million sterling for the 28 weeks to November 11th.
While that figure was lower than last year's total of £92.5 million sterling it was ahead of forecasts which ranged from £82 to £88 million sterling.
The news came alongside an update on trading over the festive period which showed total sales ahead 19 per cent in the eight weeks to January 6th with like-for-like turnover up 6 per cent.
Pretax profit for the 28 week period to November 11th was £51.9 million against £299.4 million previously, on sales excluding Freeserve of £2.2 billion against £1.7 billion previous.
Earnings per share were 2.2 pence against 15.7 previous.
The interim dividend rises 19 pct to 1.25 pence per share.