Argos and Dixons lead fightback for the high street "We are committed to being there [on the high street] and providing locally-available products," said Mr Duddy. People want the ability to browse online and the certainty of availability locally. He said Argos can survive on the high street despite other companies such as Comet collapsing because it has no debt, a high sales density in its stores, and is "convenient" for customers. The growth in sales for Argos will increase Home Retail's annual pre-tax profits by around £10m, boosting previous forecasts of £73m. This means that Home Retail will have more than £300m of net cash on its balance sheet, which it plans to use to fund a modernisation of Argos to cope with the evolving high street. This will lead to its laminated in-store catalogues being replaced by touch-screens. However, the continuing pressure on the high street was demonstrated by Argos's sister company, Homebase. The DIY chain reported a 3.9pc fall in like-for-like sales as consumers avoided big-ticket purchases. The chief executive of Dixons, Sebastian James, said the high street is undergoing "seismic" changes. "The people who are going to win are going to embrace multichannel [retailing]," he said. Mr James said he was "heartbroken" by the collapse of HMV, adding: "I bought my first album there, but I guess the problem is that I didn't buy my last album there. I downloaded it on iTunes. The collapse of Comet, HMV and camera retailer Jessops is likely to benefit Dixons and Argos. For example, in the 12 weeks to January 5, Dixons saw a 25pc rise in the sale of white goods such as fridges. Comet's demise before Christmas also removed a competitor from the fast-growing tablet market. Dixons, which has taken on 500 former Comet workers as full-time staff, sold three times more tablets than the previous year. In the week before Christmas it sold five tablets every second. Shares in Dixons rose 0.65, or 2pc, to 27.76p, while Home Retail rose 14.80 to 136.30p.