DSG International PLC (DSGI.LN) Monday said John Allan of
Deutsche Post AG (DPW.XE) will take over as chairman, as the
struggling European electrical goods retailer tries to turn itself
around after a poor performance in 2008.
Allan, 60, will replace John Collins, who said last year that he
would retire at DSG's annual shareholder meeting on Sept. 2. DSG
expects Allan to join the board as a non-executive director ahead
of his appointment as chairman, to provide a "suitable handover
period".
DSG was one of the U.K. retailers hurt by Christmas 2008,
reinforcing evidence that sellers of big-ticket items, such as
televisions and laptops, did badly over the Christmas holidays as
shoppers curbed spending amid rising unemployment and fears of a
deep recession.
That message was echoed Thursday by Home Retail Group PLC
(HOME.LN) which reported sales and margin declines. Automotive and
leisure products retailer Halfords Group PLC (HFD.LN) Thursday also
booked a decline in sales but managed to improve margins, despite
steep discounting across the retail sector.
Encouraging news did come last week from catalogue and online
home shopping retailer N Brown PLC (BWNG.LN), DVD, CD and video
games chain HMV Group PLC (HMV.LN), baby and parenting-goods
concern Mothercare PLC (MTC.LN) and from Associated British Foods
PLC's (ABF.LN) discount clothing chain Primark, with all reporting
good Yule Tide sales growth.
Europe's biggest independent mobile phone retailer Carphone
Warehouse (CPW.LN), meanwhile, said it expects earnings next year
to be flat and set out key strategic goals for the year to March
2010 in light of the weaker business conditions which it sees
continuing.
Trading reports since the start of January show the U.K.
retailers which did best during Christmas were supermarkets,
discount retailers, niche and online players - as well as
businesses that cater to young, financially unencumbered
consumers.
As well as deteriorating trading conditions, retailers -
particularly those that buy goods in Asia - face rising costs due
to sterling's falling value versus the dollar. The bulk of the
goods sold in Asia are pegged to the U.S. currency.
Online retailing seems to have fared well during the holidays
though.
On Monday, ASOS PLC (ASC.LN) said its sales over the Christmas
period more than doubled and the online fashion retailer also
posted more than doubled sales for the 42 weeks ended Jan. 16.
Attention now moves to Kesa Electricals PLC (KESA.LN), luxury
group Burberry Group PLC (BRBY.LN) and William Morrison
Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN), which report later this week.
The U.K. retail holiday trading season kicked-off on Jan. 5 when
both U.K. department store chain John Lewis and London department
store Liberty PLC (LBE.LN) presented encouraging sales reports.
On Jan. 6, Next PLC (NXT.LN), Debenhams PLC (DEB.LN), New Look
and The Co-operative reported better-than-expected Christmas sales
performances. Good holiday sales were also reported by department
store House of Fraser and fashion retailer Peacocks.
Marks & Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN) the following day said it
would close stores and cut jobs in reaction to falling sales and
tightening margins over the key Christmas period. M&S' poor
trading performance was put in to stark relief on Jan. 8 when rival
J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) unveiled a better-than-expected 4.5% rise
in same-store-sales, excluding fuel, for the fiscal-third quarter
ended Jan. 3, underpinned by its best Christmas results to
date.
Sainsbury's strong performance also made Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN
U.K. performance look limp. The country's biggest retailer had its
worst U.K. Christmas sales performance since the early 1990s, hurt
by its greater exposure to non-food lines like clothing and
electricals than some of its supermarket rivals.
Tesco said U.K. same-store-sales, excluding fuel, rose a modest
2.5% for the seven weeks to Jan. 10 from a year earlier, bang in
line with market expectations. But Tesco booked an impressive 33%
jump in international sales, helped by favorable exchange rate
movements in Europe, and a particularly strong performance in Asia.
Group sales rose 12%.
Although Christmas 2008 was not the collapse many had feared it
has seen a number of retailers go to the wall.
U.K. sofa retailer Land of Leather PLC (LAN.LN) became the
latest high-profile retail casualty of the U.K.'s struggling
economy on Jan. 12 when it was placed in administration. Others
forced into administration include china and glass group Waterford
Wedgwood PLC (WTFU.DB), Passion for Perfume Ltd., Adams
Childrenswear Ltd., clothing chain USC, CD, DVD and video game
retailer zavvi, coffee-and-tea purveyor Whittards of Chelsea,
clothing chain the Officers Club, Woolworths Group PLC (WLW.LN) and
furniture retailer MFI.
Other U.K. retailers scheduled to report trading performances in
coming days include:
Tue, Jan. 20: Burberry Group PLC (BRBY.LN) trading update
Kesa Electricals PLC (KESA.LN) trading update
Thu, Jan. 22: William Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN)
Mon, Jan. 26: WH Smith PLC (SMWH.LN) AGM trading update
Tue, Feb. 3: Carpetright PLC trading update
-By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290;
lilly.vitorovich@dowjones.com
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