If you’re going to blame someone for a profit shortfall then you might as well blame one of the largest companies in the world. Still, it is unworthy of DSG International, the British-based electrical goods retailer, to pin much responsibility for slow demand for laptops running the new Vista operating system on lack of promotion by Microsoft. The US software group presents a big target but when John Browett, DSG’s new chief executive, arrives in December from Tesco, the supermarket chain, he should look closer to home for the root of any enduring problems.

John Clare, the outgoing chief executive, alerted markets to the sluggish demand for Vista-based products in August, but that portion of DSG’s trading statement was in part drowned out by applause for his 22 years at the group, in part glossed over by analysts in the expectation that this problem would be dealt with. Instead, it has persisted. The group’s gross margin is still down 0.6 percentage points on the equivalent period of last year and the company now stands to make £50m in pre-tax profit in the first half, rather than the expected £70m. DSG overestimated demand for the PCs by a staggering 50,000 units, according to Kevin O’Byrne, finance director.