DSG International (retailer)

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DSG International plc
Type of Company Public (LSE: DSGI)
Founded 27 October 1937 (as Dixon Studios Limited)
Headquarters Dixons House
Maylands Ave.
Hemel Hempstead
Herts
England
HP2 7TG
Key people Sir John Collins (Chairman since September 2002),
John Clare CBE (Chief Executive since 1994),
Kevin O'Byrne (Group Finance Director since 19 Jul 2004)
David Longbottom (Group Director of Human Resources since November 2002)
Industry Retail and E-Tail
Products Brown Goods,
White Goods,
Telecommunications,
Information Technology,
Digital photo processing,
Pre-Recorded Media,
Childcare Equipment
Revenue £7.072 billion GBP
(2005/06)[1]
Employees 42,000+ (2006)
Slogan n/a.
Website http://www.dsgiplc.com/

The United Kingdom based company DSG International plc aka DSGi (formerly Dixons Group plc) is one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. The company operates the Dixons, Dixons Tax-Free, Currys, Currys.digital, PC World retail store chains, Dixons.co.uk, microwarehouse.co.uk, inmac.co.uk, MacWarehouse.co.uk and pixmania.com e-tail brands, Partmaster Direct electrical products spares and accessories service, The TechGuys electronics repair business and the Genesis, PC World Business, DSG Insurance Services brands in the UK and Ireland. Along with the Electro World, UniEuro, Gigantti, Elkjøp, Lefdal Lavpris, Markantalo, El Giganten, PC City and Κωτσοβολος(Kotsovolos) retail chains and the Fotovista group which includes pixmania.com, mypixmania.com, primashop.com, e-merchant.com e-tail brands in Europe.

In 2005 the group also acquired an interest with an option to buy the Eldorado Group[2], the largest electrical retailer in Russia and Ukraine by 2011 at a fixed price of $1.9 billion (£1 billion GBP). With plans of further expansion into the european market, by entering one new country each year either through acquisition of an exisiting business or start up of a new one.

Dixons Stores Group (as they were known at the time) also founded the UK Internet Service Provider Freeserve, which was later purchased by Wanadoo, now a subsidiary of France Télécom, and rebranded as Wanadoo. Freeserve was one of the key internet bubble stocks in the UK, and Dixons made large profits by selling much of its stake close to the top of the market. Wanadoo has since been rebranded again in the UK under the Orange brand.

The Group's main focus is to specialise in the sale of high technology consumer electronics products, AV equipment, personal computers, small and large domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communication products and related financial and after sales services (e.g. extended service agreements). Alternate products and services provided by the group included electrical products spares accessories and repairs, mobile services, On-Line Digital photo processing, pre-recorded media and even childcare equipment.

In 1982 Dixons introduced their Saisho own-brand range of electronic goods, since rebranded Advent. Dixons and Currys also sell a range of own brand goods under the Matsui brand.

In 2004, Dixons announced they would stop selling VCRs when their existing stock ran out as there was no longer sufficient demand for them, compared to DVD Players. On 8 August 2005 Dixons followed this move by announcing they would stop selling non-digital cameras. In 2006 Dixons announced that their brand presence would continue purely online and that all high-street Dixons stores would be rebranded as Currys.digital.

Contents

[edit] Group structure

[edit] UK and Ireland Electricals

[edit] Dixons

The first Dixons photographic studio was located at 32 High Street, Southend. The business was incorporated as a private company called Dixon Studios Limited and registered on 27 October 1937 . When the first studio opened in Southend, the shop front could accommodate a name of no more than six letters. The solution was found in the telephone directory - "Dixons" was short enough to fit over the door! and from this beginning grew the Dixons Stores Group (now named DSG International PLC)
On 5th of April 2006, it was decided that all Dixons-branded retail stores were to be replaced by Currys.digital - an extension of Currys on the high street - with the intention of making the Dixons brand primarily an e-commerce business, allowing them to react to market changes more quickly. In 2006, Dixons was the first of the group's companies to extend its price promise to include on-line competitors. The Dixons name still remains as an online retailer, trading in Ireland (6 stores), and as a tax free airport outlet brand (21 stores) employing a total of 380 staff (2006). Their annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £680 million

[edit] Dixons Tax-Free

[edit] Currys

The Currys group, including Mastercare, was purchased by Dixons in 1984, then adding an extra 613 stores, 41 depots, and 900 engineers to the Group. Currys claims to be the UK's largest electrical retailer, with a total of 547 stores (including the Currys.digital brand), 302 out-of-town superstores, 42 Currys high-street and 190 Currys.digital high-street shops employing a total of 9204 staff (2006). They also have 4 stores in the Republic of Ireland (as of 19 August 2006). The company's primary market is white and brown goods, but they also sell small kitchen appliances, computers and mobile phones. Currys specialise in home electronics and household appliances. Their annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £1,985 million and £1,852 million year ending April 2005.

[edit] Currys.digital

Currys.digital is the rebranded name for Dixons retail outlets in the UK excluding Ireland and the Dixons Tax Free stores operating from UK airports. In April 2006 the Group decided to move its focus for the Dixons chain from the high street and concentrate purely on e-commerce. The stores were subsequently renamed Currys.digital as an extension of Currys (also part of the Group's retail outlets) to allow Dixons to break free from the high street. The rebranded Currys.digital markets itself as a specialist division of Currys aimed at the technology-focused consumer with product ranges such as cameras, personal computers, audio and video equipment - as Dixons had in the past - while offering a range of large and small domestic appliances that the traditional Currys stores sell.

[edit] Partmaster Direct

Partmaster offers a large range of accessories and spares for electrical products. Partmaster stocks more than 300,000 products and receives around 750,000 calls a year.

[edit] Pixmania.com

Pixmania is a pan-European e-tailer of digital photographic and consumer electronic goods. It trades in 26 countries through bespoke transactional websites. It has four million customers and 1,600 employees. In 2006, DSG international acquired a controlling 77% stake in its parent company, Fotovista. In addition to Pixmania.com, the business includes mypixmania.com (a site specialising in online digital photo processing), primashop.com (childcare equipment) and e-merchant.com (a B2B service site enabling brands and retailers to run e-commerce businesses across Europe). Unaudited management accounts for the year ended 31 March 2006 show sales of over Euro 450 million.

[edit] DSG Insurance Services

DSG Insurance Services offers a service for the provision of electrical goods and claims handling services to the UK insurance replacement market. An end to end service is offered, from initial call handling and claim validation, through to repair or replacement – either with replacement goods or an insurance replacement voucher – and after-sales support. The insurance replacement voucher is a process that gives customers direct access to the Group's wide range of products and services. The vouchers are redeemable at any branch of Currys, Currys.digital and PC World.

[edit] Distribution

This is done by Mastercare Ltd a division of DSGi.

Distribution is done throughout a collection of Local Distribution Centres or LDC's through out the Country such as Epsom, Erith and Perivale. From 2006, the distribution system used by DSG International plc will change, with distribution occurring from a centralised hub rather than through smaller LDC's. The company have chosen to do this in order to reduce running costs and reduce national variation in stock availability.

As of 2006 Mastercare's name has changed to "The Tech Guys", and Distribution is now called Currys Distribution. The name of the collection of Local Distribution Centres has also changed and is now called X Docks, with two new group Distribution sites in Newark and Bristol.

[edit] DSG Ireland

DSG Ireland have stores in the major centres of the Republic of Ireland. As of April 2006 there are eight Dixons stores, four Currys and nine PC World outlets. DSG Ireland have announced that they will not be adopting the new "Currys.digital" branding for high-street stores, instead retaining the traditional Dixons branding, with Currys being used exclusively for large-format superstores.

[edit] Computing and Communications

[edit] PC World

PC World is a specialist chain of computer superstores. The chain has 150 stores across the UK and a further 6 in Ireland employeing a total of 5872 staff (2006).Their annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £1,369 million

[edit] PC City

PC City exists in continental Europe as an extension of the group's PC World chain. Beginning with the acquisition of Ei System in Spain, the company has expanded in the intervening years and now has a presence in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Sweden.

[edit] PC World Business

PC World Business, part of DSG international plc, is a leading specialist provider of IT solutions to business and the public sector.

The company employs in excess of 2,000 people and supplies products and services to more than one third of all UK businesses and public sector organisations.

PC World Business offers dedicated business account managers and highly-qualified technical experts to provide, manage and maintain business IT systems. As an independent reseller, the company boasts an unrivalled range of more than 100,000 products, all detailed in the industry-respected Definitive Buyers’ Guide.

The company offers a unique multi-platform approach to account management in order to offer the best in convenience to its customers. It has specialist Business Centres in each of more than 150 PC World stores across the country, offering immediate access to around 5,000 products. In addition, the company offers access to its whole range – many with next day delivery - from its web site www.pcwb.com; by telephone and through a direct fax service.

[edit] WHSU International Inc. (MicroWarehouse)

WHSU Inc. and WHSU International Inc. (together known as MicroWarehouse) was acquired by the DSGi on 4 June 2004. On the 9 October 2003 MicroWarehouse filed Bankruptcy[3] which ulitmately lead to purchase of the MicroWarehouse by the Group .When MicroWarehouse was acquired by the group it became a division of PC World Business[4], MicroWarehouse is one of the UK's largest and longest established direct resellers of branded IT products and services to business. MicroWarehouse owns and operates the domain names Inmac.co.uk, MacWarehouse.co.uk and MicroWarehouse.co.uk. All three are on-line, web-based, computer hardware and software retailers.

[edit] The Tech Guys

The Tech Guys is a merger of the repair division of the former Mastercare and PC ServiceCall, which provides IT technical support on PCs and technical repair services on home entertainment for customers of the companied under the DSG International Plc umbrella . The Tech Guys is also the name given to the PC World in-store technical and data engineers. The Nottingham-based Tech Guys call centre is presently run by Capita, though this is the only part of the operation that is not presently run directly by DSGi. The field engineers, workshops etc have not been affected by this change.
The TechGuys Support Site

[edit] The Link

The Link is a UK mobile phone retailer of which, before June 2006, DSG had a 60% stake, the other 40% having been owned by O2 plc. The Link had, at its trading peak, 295 stores throughout the UK (as of January 2006).

In June 2006 DSGi sold the entirety of its stake in the link to O2. O2, having the controlling stake in the Link, reported in August 2006 that it would rebrand just under 100 of The Link stores throughout the UK to O2 stores. The remaining stores would continue to trade under their current management structure until a new buyer for the stores could be sought.

As of November 2006, the majority of stores not rebranded as O2 stores have been sold to other mobile phone retailers and networks, such as Orange SA, T-Mobile, and The Carphone Warehouse. A number of stores in areas with little demand for further mobile phone retailers have either been closed or sold to unrelated companies (such as Costa Coffee).

[edit] Genesis

Genesis Communications is the UK's largest independent mobile service provider, operating in the business to business sector.

Acquired by the Dixons Stores Group in 2002, Genesis Communications has partnerships with the UK's major mobile networks, and offers a full wireless service, including hardware, customer account management and billing. Genesis is also the UK's leading supplier of wireless data services to the SME market, including 3G and Blackberry solutions.

The company was formed in 1995 and now has more then 35,000 business customers, 170,000 subscribers and over 500 employees.

Genesis has 12 regional offices across the UK and a state-of-the-art head office in Bury, Lancashire.

[edit] DSG Business Services

[edit] Mastercare Commercial service

Mastercare Commercial Services offer IT services to the commercial IT industry. A call centre can provide telephone and email support, and a team of field based technicians and engineers will provide repairs to businesses on desktop PC's and laptops, insurance inspections for companies like Norwich Union, install small, medium or large networks (ethernet or wireless) and are also involved with projects with Flagship (on behalf of the Royal Navy), AtosOrigin, the Meat Hygiene Service and the National Health Service.

In late 2005 the company also began to offer a service to wall-mount the slimline plasma and LCD televisions, and provide surveys for wall mounted or ceiling mounted projectors.

The whole of Mastercare Commercial service was rebranded The TechGuys in September 2006.

[edit] European Electricals

[edit] Elkjøp

Elkjøp retails in the Nordic region. Elkjøp operates 6 retail chains stores across Norway (Elkjøp, El Giganten, Gigantti, Lefdal Lavpris, Markatalo and Elko) in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Elkjøp currently operates 221 stores employeing a total of 5105 staff (2006), These stores sell white goods, brown goods, consumer electronics, PCs, communications products and related services through.Their combined annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £1,155 million.

[edit] El Giganten

El Giganten is a retail brand operated under Elkjøp. There are 51 El Giganten stores in Sweden, 26 in Denmark and three in the Faroe Islands, specialising in mixed electricals in out of town locations.

[edit] Gigantti

Gigantti is a retail brand operated under Elkjøp.There are currently 21 superstores in Finland under the Gigantti brand. The first opened in September 1999.

[edit] Lefdal Lavpris

Lefdal Lavpris is a retail brand operated under Elkjøp.There are 8 Lefdal Lavpris operating across Norway.

[edit] Markantalo

Markantalo is a retail brand operated under Elkjøp. In January 2006, the Group acquired the 22 store portfolio of Markantalo

[edit] Electro World

Electro World is DSG international’s chain of electrical superstores in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland. It now has 18 stores and employs 1089 people in the region. Electro World annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £119 million.

Hungary

The first 43,000 sq ft hyperstore opened in Budaörs, Budapest in 2002, prompting incredible customer interest with long queues on the motorway. During the following four years, a further six stores have opened - one in Pecs, one in Debrecen and another four in Budapest. The most recent store was opened in May 2006 in Capona shopping mall in Budapest.

Czech Republic

In 2002, the first Electro World store opened in Zlicin. Seven further stores have since opened. There are now three hyperstores in Prague, three stores in Moravia, one in East Bohemia and one in South Bohemia.

Electro World is very highly regarded and was voted Electrical Retailer of the Year by shoppers in 2004, and has twice featured in the Czech 100 Best Companies list, in 2004 and 2005.

Poland

The first Electro World store to open in Poland was in October 2005 at the Targowek commercial center in Warsaw. Sales on the opening day topped one million Euros and the store welcomed more than 15,000 customers. Two stores have since opened, one in Janki just outside Warsaw city centre, and most recently in Gdansk in May 2006.

Central Europe Distribution Centre

Currently, 85% of Electro World goods pass through the company's Central Europe distribution centre just outside the city of Brno. The warehouse, completed in a record six months, is 28,000 square feet in size, making it the largest warehouse facility for non-food goods in the Czech Republic. The centre dispatches 15 trucks daily, and this number doubles during peak season.

[edit] UniEuro

Acquired by the Group in 2001, UniEuro currently operates 110 stores employeing a total of 2507 staff (2006), mainly in out of town locations and concentrated in the north west and north east of Italy.

The stores sell a mixture of high technology consumer electronics, personal computers, domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communication products and related services. The proposition is focused on competitive prices, customer service and new technology. Their annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £633 million.

[edit] Omni Source

Omni Source/DSGi announced the use of Tradocs to handle supply chain documents electronically.Tradocs is a global trading system that enables businesses to trade electronically by quickly exchanging documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, securely over the Internet.

[edit] Κωτσοβολος (Kotsovolos)

Kotsovolos is a electrical retailer in Greece. DSG international acquired a 15% stake in the company in April 2000 and became the majority owner September 2004.

Kotsovolos began as a single store in Athens in 1950. Today it trades from 77 stores and more than 56,000 sq meters of selling space. It employs nearly 2,000 people and operates the Kotsovolos, Radio Athinae (brown and white goods and computers), and One Way brands (mobile telephony equipment).Their annual sales for year ending April 2006 were £263 million.

[edit] Fotovista group

[edit] Financial results

52/3 weeks ended Turnover £ Profit before tax £ Profit for the period £ Basic eps (p)
30 April 2005 6,982 336.8 243.1 12.6
1 May 2004 6,491 366.2 289.4 14.4
3 May 2003 5,750.5 278.6 207.8 10.7
27 April 2002 4,888.2 282.3 211.2 11.0
28 April 2001 4,688.2 647.1 (2) 602.6 31.5
29 April 2000 3,889.9 472.1 (2) 413.7 22.5
1 May 1999 3,156.3 231.3 186.2 41.1 (1)
2 May 1998 2,791.9 213.3 166.4 36.9 (1)

Notes:

  • 1: pre stock split
  • 2: the above trend profits for 2000 and 2001 were primarily attributable to profits on disposal of Freeserve shares.

[edit] External links

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