Dixons denies agency review

Dixons Group, the UK’s leading electronics retailer, is understood to be talking to creative and media agencies about its expanding European operation.

Dixons has recently acquired leading electrical retailers in Scandinavia and Spain and secured a profitable share swap with another in Greece. Dixons has also announced it is planning to launch an e-commerce business in France although it has yet to release details of the operation.

A Dixons spokesman denied the company was reviewing agency arrangements for its pan-European interests.

“The vast majority of our current expenditure is in the UK and Ireland,” he says. “We have made a number of acquisitions in Europe which may result in a review in the future but there are no plans at the moment.”

The group’s UK operation covers about 1,200 stores under the brands Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link.

He said Dixons was “definitely not” looking at reviewing its UK agency roster arrangements which include M&C Saatchi and Walker Media.

Dixons bought the Scandinavian chain, Elkjop, for £444m in December 1999, delivering a blow to rivals Kingfisher which had put in a bid of £350m a few months before. In January, the group bought Spanish electrical retailer Ei System Computer for £11.8m. In April this year, Dixons purchased a 15 per cent stake in a £44m share swap with leading Greek electrical retailer Kotsovolos.