High street giant Dixons has hit back at further criticism that it is cornering the PC market in the UK, following its supply deal with US vendor eMachines.

Retailers John Lewis, Comet and Tempo complained to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in April that Dixons was guilty of anti-competitive practices by signing restrictive agreements with PC suppliers thereby preventing other retailers from selling those brands.

But a Dixons representative said an earlier study by OFT revealed that competition in the home PC market was fair and that "there was no evidence of supra-normal profit being made".

Speaking of the deal with eMachines, the representative claimed Dixons had "agreed to supply eMachine products to other UK and European retailers, so it is not a restrictive deal. We will not be preventing anyone else from selling them."

An OFT representative confirmed it had received a complaint. "The OFT has to have reasonable suspicion and evidence to launch an enquiry," he said.

First published in Computer Reseller News