DSG International, Europe's number two electricals retailer, expects to sell as many televisions for the soccer World Cup as it does in the run-up to Christmas, its peak trading period.
DSG today forecast a major sales boost from the soccer tournament, which kicks off in South Africa on June 11, and said profit for its year just ended would meet expectations.
'Basically in a World Cup we sell the same amount of televisions we sell at peak trading', CEO John Browett said.
Browett said DSG's World Cup campaign had made 'a very strong start' in Britain, driven by the Currys chain's 'cash for goals' promotion which will see it return £10 sterling to shoppers who have spent over £599 on a television, every time England score a goal in the month-long tournament.
DSG, which also runs the PC World chains in Ireland and Britain, UniEuro in Italy, Elkjop in Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece, said underlying pretax profit for the year to May 1 would be in line with market expectations of £80-90m, up from £50.5m in 2008-09.
Europe's retailers are generally struggling in a sluggish economic recovery as shoppers worry about unemployment, rising fuel costs and high government debt.
DSG is two years into a turnaround plan that has focused on cutting costs and stocks, selling underperforming businesses, revamping stores and improving customer service. The firm said this plan remains on track.
DSG said sales at stores open over a year increased 6% in the 28 weeks to May 1. That compares with analyst forecasts for a rise of 4-5%. Like-for-like sales were up 3% in Britain and Ireland, up 16% in the Nordics and up 4% in DSG's 'other international' division (Italy, Spain and Greece).
