PC World

(By Richard Holway 9.00am Wednesday 2nd Sept 09) DSG International says its PC World chain was hit by a sharp fall in sales to business customers in the UK. Like-for-like sales fell 15% in the 16 weeks to August 22nd 09 with "significantly lower" sales to businesses.

However, DSG’s overall 6% sales decline, due to an improved international performance, was greeted as ‘better than expected’ and grasped as evidence that the worst may be over.

I guess this all fits with our reading and expectations for the various parts of the UK economy. An improvement in the housing market would help DSG as people buy more white goods when they move. Consumers are still buying gadgets they like (ipods) or are cheap (netbooks). But businesses are still facing very hard times – none more so that SMEs. The last thing you do when you are laying off staff and struggling with your cashflow, is go out to PC World and buy a new computer. Bluntly, I don’t see this situation changing at least until H2 2010.