It has been a really tough time for DSGi. 

The biggest electrical retailer in Europe surely needs its new CEO, John Browett. who has joined at a time when the company has been forced to admit to “very disappointing” sales at PC World.

It must have galled him to have to report that the Christmas promotions on flat panels were generating good sales but with “negatively impacting gross margins”.

When DSGi warned the City that profits could be £50 million below previous expectations, the shares fell by 27 per cent in a single day. 

Dixons has also been running a “buy-back” operation, where it has spent about £100m buying back shares to cancel them.

Usually this type of operation has the effect of increasing the share price, as the company is “owned” by fewer shareholders.

It also has the effect of supporting the price, as there is a buyer for millions of shares that others may wish to sell.

I expect the previous management team to get the blame for this, as the “buy-back” would have bought twice as many shares for cancellation this week.

It is difficult to see when there will be some good news. The current credit squeeze, the state of the housing market, mortgages, fuel price increases et al seem to suggest there are tough times ahead.

Yet last night, I watched my friend, Trevor Astbury, demonstrating the new £168 Pathfinder HD-DVD on QVC. Trevor's spiel generated massive sales. However I couldn’t help but think that once upon a time, Dixons would have been the first to sell this red-hot item.

DSGi is trying some new initiatives. It is about to announce a new website at 
http://www.comparemoreatdixons.co.uk
 
This is yet another comparative site like Price Runner, U-Switch and all the others. On this new site, Dixons offers deals on a wide miscellany of items including  gas electricity, insurance, travel, wines, shopping etc.

I doubt very much whether this will turn around the company's fortunes.

All the recent press comment and talk of closing stores cannot be good for the staff morale at Currys and PC World.  However I hear that Mr Browett has been turning up unexpectedly at stores.  The sales team at Solihull (store 1617 in Dixons jargon) were really surprised to meet him.

Normally suppliers to Dixons are very reticent about saying anything about their sales to DSGi.  I was therefore very surprised to see one supplier, OCZ Technology, was blaming its reduced sales in November and December on the poor performance of Dixons.

It was also interesting to read in the Daily Mail that Dixons would be returning some of the unsold excess stock to their suppliers.  Perhaps Mr Browett is adopting a tougher line than that which reigned previously.

The poor results will at least give Mr Browett a free hand to make some radical changes to the way Dixons does business and I suspect that is exactly why he was appointed.

I wish him well.