DSG International, owner of Dixons, PC World and Currys, abandoned a $1.9bn plan to move into Russia yesterday, citing worries about the political and economic climate. The Times. The Independent. The Guardian

The company announced a £100m share buyback with cash that would have funded the acquisition of the first tranche of options in Russian electrical retailer Eldorado.

John Clare, DSG’s outgoing chief executive, said: 'Russia remains an interesting and exciting market and we will continue to watch with interest.' But he added that DSG’s board had decided that taking up an option to buy shares in Eldorado, set to mature by the end of this year, was 'not in the interest of shareholders this year or in the longer term'.

Analysts said that DSG had indicated that the group would also have had to have put considerable investment into systems to enable Eldorado, a fast-growing entrepreneurial business, to meet the financial reporting standards expected by the London markets.