John Browett could be forgiven for wondering what he’s walked into. Shortly after joining DSG International in December, he was forced to issue the first of two profit warnings.

Then Best Buy, the US electricals giant, comes along and buys half of Carphone Warehouse’s retail division in a bid to muscle into the UK. If this wasn’t enough, the former Tesco executive had to return early from a sailing regatta at the weekend - there wasn’t enough wind.

Today’s five-point plan sees Mr Browett not only re-base the dividend - cut by 50 per cent - but re-base the business. Nearly half the Currys stores are being closed, there is a near £400 million writeoff at the UniEuro operation in Italy while around one-in-four head office staff will go.

The slimmed-down group will focus on the internet while at the same time trialling larger out-of-town stores in the UK.

The plan is big on management speak - ‘transforming the DNA’ - but the detail has left investors disappointed.

Hopes for an operating margin of between 3 to 4 per cent is all well and good but Mr Browett admits the market will remain tough until 2009-2010. Like-for-like sales at PC World fell 9 per cent in the past year. The share price reaction - down more than 8 per cent in early trading - shows how long analysts believe it could take Mr Browett to achieve the job in hand.

A fair wind, and he may win some of the doubters back in the medium-term, but a turnaround at DSG looks a long way off.

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