'Nouvelle Confiance' is the name Darty's (DRTY) management has given a strategic plan to overhaul the ailing business, focusing on what new chief executive Régis Schultz calls the "four-Ds": driving trading, digitalising Darty, developing the brand and delivering cost efficiency. Annual savings of €50m are being targeted by 2015-16.
Having disposed of Darty Italy, closed Darty Spain and seen Comet fall into administration, the electrical retailing group is looking at "options" for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and is "reviewing" the Turkish business to focus on its core markets: France, Belgium and Holland. This restructuring has come at a price, though - the group incurred €115m (£98m) of exceptional charges in the year. Strip out those costs and underlying pre-tax profit still tumbled 66 per cent to €26.4m, driven by margin pressure from product mix, deteriorating trading conditions and fierce competition. Same-store sales fell 1.1 per cent.