Dixons pins hopes on techn to offset austerity

LONDON: Dixons Retail, an electrical retailer, hopes Christmas demand for iPads, motion-sensitive gaming systems and 3D TVs will offset the impact of government austerity measures.

 Thursday, after the firm posted an expected narrowing of first-half losses John Browett, chief executive, said "It is clear to us that new technology sales will be strong, (at Christmas) and its recovery strategy was on track,”

"However, the key question is how much of that substitutes for other expenditure in this kind of environment? We are not expecting an easy Christmas, we think it is going to be very competitive," he said.

Dixons made an underlying pretax loss of 7.9 million pounds ($12.45 million) in the 24 weeks to Oct. 16.That compared with analyst forecasts of a loss of 8-15 million pounds, according to a Reuters poll, and a loss of 17.6 million in the same period last year.