DSGi Italy boss goes as like-for-likes drop

UniEuro managing director Mark Rollman had been in the role for 16 months. A successor is being sought.

This week, Rollman handed over the reins to DSGi group managing director of UK and electricals division Per Bjørgås, who will run UniEuro until a long-term replacement is found.

DSGi said it is turning the Italian chain around, but UniEuro’s like-for-like sales slumped 5 per cent in the 16 weeks to August 18.

UniEuro’s performance also knocked the electrical group’s profits substantially in southern Europe for the year to April 28.

DSGi’s southern division, also including Greece, posted underlying operating profits of£8 million in the 52-week period, compared with£44.3 million the previous year.

Bjørgås said Rollman was leaving for “personal reasons”. He said: “The process of recruiting a long-term managing director for our Italian business has been in place for some time. It has always been our intention that Mark hand over the management of UniEuro to a long-term managing director in due course.”

As part of its turnaround strategy, UniEuro is to open between 15 and 20 stores this financial year and continues to refurbish existing shops.

It also restructured its distribution and logistics system in July and has introduced market-beating promotional offers, Bjørgås claimed.

*PC World’s first TV sponsorship will kick off next week, backing a series on Virgin 1 (V1).

The campaign, called PC World: there for all your dramas, will show several real-life dramas that the retailer can help solve. For example, one shopper will collect a pre-ordered product in store and DSGi’s Tech Guys will fix a technical problem.

PC World marketing director Niall O’Keeffe said: “The sponsorship is trying to build on our core and let people know we are about more than laptops and PCs.”