Curry’s reform sees profits up 20%

DSGi, the group which owns electrical goods retailers Currys and PC World, has revealed that its transformation plan is progressing well with profits at new format stores up 20%.

Currys
Currys

The group says its £200m cost savings programme is on track. A third (139) of its UK stores have now been reformatted. which helped drive a 3% boost to like for like performance over the Christmas Peak trading period.

During the period the group closed a number of underperforming stores as part of its portfolio review and is accelerating the roll out of its megastore and 2-in-1 store formats. It plans to open 33 megastores and a further 60 2-in-1 format stores this year.

John Browett, DSGi chief executive, says the renewal and transformation plan implemented in 2008 is “making significant changes” to the business and it is starting to see the benefits.

The Group says that having traded the new format stores through the peak Christmas trading period, it is now in a better position to determine the store transformation programme for the coming 12 months and that its combined PC World and Curry’s 2-in-1 stores “provide access to the PC World brand in existing Currys markets”.

It rolled out a new e-merchant platform to the UK sites of Dixons.co.uk, PC World.co.uk and Currys.co.uk to “improve functionality, ease navigation for customers, and provide better product information and accessory attachment.”