DSG owns a number of High Street brands

The firm, which employs more than 40,000 in UK and Europe, will not be calling for compulsory redundancies but will lose posts through staff turnover.

It did not comment on media reports that 1,000 jobs could face the axe.

On Wednesday DSG, which also owns PC World, said like-for-like sales - which exclude new store openings - rose 2% in the eight weeks to 7 January.

At the same time the group said it remained "cautious" about the outlook for the coming months.

IT outsourcing

DSG also reported pre-tax profits of �106.1m for the six months to November, down from �133.5m a year ago.

The firm is looking to make savings in financial year 2006/07 in the face of rising costs, which include increasing energy and rental bills.

DSG, which has 2,000 staff at its Hemel Hempstead head office, said 150 jobs would be cut by the outsourcing of its internal IT support operations to a firm with offices in the UK and India.

The group has said it is wary about future trading as consumer confidence remains low "particularly in the UK, Italy and Greece".