Sales at Dixons were disappointing over the Christmas period.

The electrical goods retailer reported first-half pre-tax profits of £127.5m.

Total group like-for-like sales were up just 3% in the 4 weeks to the first week of January.

CEO John Clare admitted the figures - while above forecasts - were disappointing.

"The consumer market has slowed," Mr Clare told Sky News.

"We advised the (stock) market back at the beginning of November that we were starting to experience a slowdown, particularly in big-ticket items.

"We anticipated a difficult Christmas, we anticipated an aggressively traded Christmas and I think that's exactly what happened."

Dixons said it expected year results to be in line with expectations and was still cautious about consumer appetite, particularly in the UK and Italy.

Dixons, which also owns PC World and The Link, provided some relief by saying shrinking profit margins had not fallen further since the end of November.

Industry figures on Tuesday showed retail sales fell in December, dropping at their fastest annual rate in nearly two years and marking their worst Christmas in a decade.