The chief executive of Currys and PC World's owner Dixons Retail declared the retailer was moving from "survivor to winner" yesterday as a boom in tablet sales sent UK profits flying.

The owner of Currys and PC World has agreed to sell one of its Scandinavian businesses for £14.1m as part of plans to rationalise its portfolio of brands. Dixons Retail is to offload Webhallen, a Swedish retailer of games and media products, to Komplett, the Norwegian online firm. The move is part of Dixons' plans to revitalise its struggling internet business Pixmania, which counts Webhallen as a subsidiary.

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Buoyant demand for tablet devices powered better-than-expected sales at Dixons Retail's Currys and Home Retail's Argos over Christmas, but neither group sees any improvement in UK consumer spending in the year ahead.

The owner of PC World and Currys benefited from the demise of rival Comet today by reporting a bigger-than-expected surge in Christmas sales.

Has electrical retailer Dixons managed to "internet-proof" itself? Analysts at Deutsche Bank think the loss-making retailer may still have a bright future ahead of it. The impact of shoppers spending on the internet rather than at its stores could be reaching its apex they claim.

Dixons Retail, the owner of Currys and PC World, said it has not seen "much disruption" from the stock liquidation at failed rival Comet, as its UK business returned to profit for the first time in five years.

Comet has launched a liquidation sale as administrators move to wind down the failed retailer ahead of store closures as early as next week.

Thousands of jobs are at risk as Comet, the 240-store electricals retailer, is poised to appoint an accountancy firm as administrator just nine months after the UK chain was bought for a token £2.

From Hemel Hempstead to Cupertino - and back again

Dixons Retail, the owner of Currys and PC World, blamed hefty write-downs on the value of its struggling Italian and Greek businesses for a painful full-year loss of nearly £120m.

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Not seen this chap before.