-- Neil Collins is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --
By Neil Collins
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - What is DSG International, the UK retailer business that was formerly known as Dixons, for?
The Dixons name has long since evaporated from Britain's high streets into the electronic ether, leaving behind its fellow electricals businesses, Currys and PC World.
As Dixons dematerialized, the DSGI bosses turned Currys into CurrysDigital, as if a fashionable-sounding fascia could make buying dishwashers sexy.
Dixons was built on our appetite for the ever-evolving boys' toys, from colour televisions and video recorders, to video cameras and DVD players. The business case, of a continuous stream of new products at ever-decreasing prices, allowed expansion into continental Europe and the U.S.
Yet Dixons demonstrated that he who lives by technology often dies by it. When the internet became the next big thing in consumer electronics, it also destroyed the company's pricing power. Its customers visited the shops, decided what to buy, and then went onto the internet to get it more cheaply.
The shares slumped from over 200 pence in late 2006 to 9 pence last December, as debt taken on in the good times threatened to overwhelm the company. Last month the management fought back, when chief executive John Browett invited analysts and investors to its Birmingham mega-store to hear about the "renewal and transformation" plan.
It's worked well enough for the shares to recover from December's panic, and any day now Browett will invite the shareholders to back a hefty rights issue.
The relief rally took the shares up a further 10 percent on Wednesday, and at 37 pence the business is valued at 650 million pounds, providing enough headroom for the 300 million pounds the company believes it needs.
Browett's softening-up tactics, and the feeling that life on the high street is not quite as dire as many expected, should get his issue away. Whether or not he can really make money from internet shopping, or succeed in making washing machines sexy, is a much harder question to answer.