Eurozone leaves Dixons with £120m loss

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.

Sebastian James, the new chief executive of Europe's biggest electricals group, refused to make a long-term commitment to its ailing Unieuro operation in Italy but said it would stay the course in Greece, where its Kotsovolos chain is the market leader.

Dixons Retail nearly halved its net debt to £104m and grew its profits by 15 per cent in the UK and Ireland, driven by cost savings. It posted a pre-tax loss of £118.8m for the year to 28 April, following the £189.6m writedown hit. Stripping out exceptional items, underlying profit fell by 17 per cent to £70.8m.