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Europe's third-largest seller of electrical goods Kesa dived into the red last year as it wrote down the value of its Spanish business and slashed costs at its UK chain Comet.
New chief executive Thierry Falque-Pierrotin warned that the coming year would also be tough.
He said: "In anticipation of another difficult year we will continue with our cost management actions, reduction in losses in our new businesses and focus on cash generation which will be aided by lower capital expenditure."
Kesa's board under chairman David Newlands has taken the axe to the dividend, slashing the payout for the year from 14p to only 5p.
"When you have to cut the dividend, you want to make sure that you only do it the once," said Newlands. "We hope that from this new base we will be able to start growing it again."
He added that with so much of the business dependent on Christmas sales it was impossible to make much of a forecast for the coming year.
As well as the 250-strong Comet chain, Kesa owns France's largest electrical retailer Darty and chains in 10 other countries.
Sales rose 10% to £4.95 billion in the year to end-April but operating profits almost halved from £141 million to £77 million.
After £151 million of exceptional costs, including 300 job cuts at Comet and the Spanish writedowns, pre-tax losses were £81.8 million.
Ignoring the exceptionals, headline earnings fell from 16.2p to 5.7p a share.
The need to conserve cash is highlighted by the fact that in the past 12 months Kesa's cash at the bank has dwindled from £46.5 million to about £7.5 million.
In the UK, consumers have been reining in their spending on big-ticket items as the recession has bitten deeper.
Comet's sales fell by 5% to £1.66 billion but its profits fell by three quarters to £10.1 million.
Falque-Pierrotin said: "Comet had a very bad first half but since Boxing Day it has performed well as the actions we have taken and our emphasis on day-to-day execution have begun to work.
"We have seen good demand for televisions, multi-media products, refrigerators and dishwashers."
He also said that trading conditions in Spain had been "much worse than anticipated" meaning that the chain it has there reported a loss.
Radical action is being taken with the closure of 20 stores, one distribution centre and slimmed down head office. That should reduce losses in the current year.
Kesa shares fell 1p to 107¾p.
