Tablets cure Dixons' euro ills

Dixons Retail described trading over the Christmas period as a "rollercoaster ride", but the electricals group's shares jumped as its results were no worse than the City had expected.

The owner of the Currys and PC World chains said that while trading had been slow in October and November as the eurozone crisis hit consumer confidence, spending recovered during the two weeks before Christmas, with combined sales of tablets and Apple's iPads rocketing by 200%.

John Browett, chief executive of Dixons Retail, said: "It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride," adding that trading patterns had also been distorted by the VAT rise in early January 2011.
Underlying revenues at Dixons Retail, which has operations in 13 countries, fell by 5%, while they tumbled by 7% in the UK and Ireland.

Although the group's sales also plummeted by 10% at its southern European operations in Italy, Greece and Turkey, revenues rose by 3% in Northern Europe.

Shares in Dixons rose by 0.7p, or 6.6%, to 10.5p.