Interim Management Statement
FIRST QUARTER TRADING STATEMENT
ENCOURAGING START TO THE YEAR
Dixons Retail plc, Europe's leading specialist multi-channel electrical retailer and services company, today announces trading for the 12 weeks ended 21 July 2012.
· Encouraging start to the year with total sales up 2% and like for like sales up 5% in the first quarter.
· Good performance in UK & Ireland with like for like sales up 7%.
· Northern Europe continues to trade strongly as Elkjøp outperforms in its markets.
· Italian and Greek businesses taking appropriate actions in continued difficult economic environments.
· Continued strong growth in multi-channel:
· Group multi-channel sales up 39% in the first quarter.
· Multi-channel sales up 48% in UK & Ireland.
· Trading at PIXmania continued to be challenging. On 10 August 2012 the Group acquired the 22% interest in PIXmania owned by the Rosenblum family giving the Group day to day control.
· Group gross margins down 0.3% in the first quarter.