CURRYS’ owner, DSG, has put its loss-making central and eastern European operations up for sale in an attempt to cut costs.

The electrical-goods retailer, which also owns Dixons and PC World, has decided to offload its Electroworld chain in the region as part of a wider move by chief executive John Browett to restructure the troubled group.

The move signals a further retreat from DSG’s international ambitions after it began looking at the sale of businesses in Spain and Italy in August.

The Electroworld division has more than 30 stores spread across the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and combined sales of about £250m but made losses of approximately £10m in 2007.

DSG has appointed Saski Partners, a little-known corporate-finance house based in Poland, to find buyers for the division. Analysts say the business could attract interest from the German electrical retailer Media Markt, Kesa Electricals, owner of Comet or the US giant Best Buy, which recently bought half of Carphone Warehouse’s retail business.

In May, Browett announced a strategic review of DSG’s entire operations. He said that the company would focus on “winning positions” in the UK, Ireland, the Nordic countries, Greece and on the internet.

Despite his best efforts, the company’s share price hit an all-time low in mid-October of 22p following a string of profit warnings. Two years ago its shares traded around the 220p mark. On Friday DSG’s shares closed at 34p, valuing the group at £598m.

Moody's, the credit-rating agency, has put the high-street retailer under review after a bleak October trading statement that saw its sales fall across the board. The figures prompted Pali International analyst Nick Bubb to say DSG is “running up a down escalator”.

Analysts are keen for the company to offload its Unieuro chain in Italy, which has resulted in huge losses for DSG.

“Loss elimination from overseas gives management one less thing to worry about and the prospect of Italy, in particular, getting a lot worse before it gets better, is a real one,” said Panmure Gordon analyst Philip Dorgan last month.

A spokesman for DSG said: “As part of our comprehensive Transformation and Renewal Programme, announced on May 15, we confirmed a strategic review of a number of our businesses. This will take some time and these reviews are ongoing.”

The company recently unveiled a new format, Currys Megastore, near Birmingham, which it claims is Europe’s biggest electrical store at 55,000 square feet.

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