Europe's consumer electronics retailer Dixons Retail Plc on Thursday said its like-for-like sales for the 12-week period ended Jan 8, 2011, fell 2 percent as sales fell 1 percent in local currency due to adverse weather conditions in the run up to Christmas.

The company, which makes all its profits in the second-half, said it now expects its full-year underlying pretax profit to be in the range of £100 million to £110 million and around the bottom end of current consensus forecasts.

We remain cautious about the economic outlook across our markets, but we will continue to deliver on our renewal and transformation plan as we make the business better, easier and cheaper to run and deliver an unbeatable combination of value, choice and service for customers, said chief executive John Browett in a statement.

Dixons Retail said its sales in UK fell by an estimated 2 percent due to adverse pre-Christmas weather, but that Nordic like-for-like sales grew 11 percent. It said its gross margins across the group were down 0.2 percent year-on-year.

Sales of the company's e-commerce division fell 7 percent during the period principally due to transfer of sales of higher value products to multichannel that grew by 8 percent.

Italian operations performed better than expected, offset by weaker environments in Greece and Spain, the company said in a statement, adding that it was pleased with the performance of its reformatted stores which trade ahead of the market.

The adverse weather conditions reduced footfall in the run up to Christmas day. We saw strong trade in the post Christmas Sale as customers were keen to take advantage of our great deals on 3D TVs, Apple products, tablets and white goods ahead of the rise in VAT in the UK, said Browett.

Dixons is two and a half years into a turnaround plan focused on selling underperforming businesses, cutting costs, revamping stores, opening larger stores, and improving product ranges and service.

Shares of Dixons Retail closed unchanged at 23.73 pence on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange.

London stock exchange London stock exchange Retail Retail