Electrical retailer Dixons said it expected 2011/12 profits to be flat at best as benefits from revamped stores were being offset by weak consumer spending.

Dixons, home to the Currys and PC World chains in Britain, said first-quarter sales at stores open at least a year would likely fall because of strong comparatives from 2010 when it benefited from a surge in demand for televisions ahead of soccer’s World Cup. “We will be negative, but not disastrously so,” said chief executive John Browett. “Consumers are a little a bit less happy around the world than they were last year.”

However, he said Dixons was taking market share, particularly its new megastores. – (Reuters)