Up to 200 new jobs could be created by electrical retail giant Dixons during an expansion programme.

The group, which also runs the Currys, PC World and The Link chains in the UK, today announced it is to create more than 1,000 new jobs in the next year.

The expansion will bring 200 new jobs to the South of England.

Dixons said it was too early to confirm if new jobs would be created in the county but said there was a likelihood of either new branches of Dixons, Currys, PC World or The Link or the expansion of existing stores.

A company spokeswoman said: "We have estimated 200 new jobs in the region based on the growth we are expecting in that area so it is reasonable to expect that some of those new jobs could be in the Sussex area."

Last week, Dixons reported a seven per cent rise in pre-tax profits for the last year but sales were hurt by the fall in demand for mobile phones and continued weakness in the PC market.

The jobs will be created over the 2002/03 financial year, which runs to the end of April 2003.