Christmas e-commerce sales at DSG International's Dixons.co.uk and FotoVista sites rose 31 per cent, considerably slower than last year's 156 per cent growth rate.

And even the Dixons site's 40 per cent rise in Boxing Day orders has not saved the parent company from issuing a profit warning predicting overall 2007 income will be between £40m and £50m lower than analyst expectations.

"Total group sales were up 5 per cent, however like-for-like sales were down 1 per cent reflecting generally weaker consumer environments across many of our markets, particularly in the UK, Italy and Spain," said group chairman Sir John Collins.