Dixons mulls sale of Pixmania

Dixons Retail has brought in advisers to tentatively look at a sale of its poorly performing online camera seller Pixmania.

The owner of Currys and PC World has recorded a loss after being dragged down by the costs relating to Pixmania. Dixons posted pre-tax losses of £115.3 million due to asset writedowns and restructuring charges, mainly at Pixmania.

Overall Dixons has been boosted by the failure of rival Comet in 2012 with a rise of 7 per cent in UK sales. The group now holds 21 per cent of the electrical goods market. But with retail activity still sluggish Dixons could be eager to shrug off any deadweights attached to the business.

A subsidiary to Pixmania was sold last month, and a total of 19 stores have been closed, meaning that the business has exited 12 countries. The cost of the reshuffling totalled £168.8 million, with £134.9 million of this relating to Pixmania for the year ending 30 April.

Sebastian James, Dixons’ chief executive, said the restructuring was very much needed and that “We’ve really taken a chisel to that business.”

Details about the explorations into a sale were not yet revealed, nor was the hired adviser divulged. With Mr James telling the Times: “I look forward to talking to you about that when there is something to talk about.”

Commenting on the group’s financial results, with underlying profit increasing 4 per cent to £8.21 billion, Mr James said: “We have returned to growth for the group as a whole, and also to a net cash position, marking an important milestone in our transition form survivor to winner.”

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