In its latest trading statement, Dixons Carphone has reported a “strong year”, after revenue increased in the final quarter of 2015.
Headline profit before tax (PBT) for the full year is expected to be between £445 million and £450m – up 17 per cent on the year before.
Group like-for-like revenue grew by five per cent in Q4 and for the full year. The group expects net debt to be below £300m.
In the UK and Ireland, like-for-like revenue increased by six per cent, which was driven by growth in electricals as well as mobile phone market share gain. Total revenue was up by two per cent in the final quarter.
As part of the company’s plan to convert current stores into 3-in-1 formats, there are now a total 273 Carphone Warehouse stores-within-a-store open.
It also announced that its pricing versus the market is at its most competitive ever and the company is continuing to gain market share in both electricals and mobile.
Group chief executive Sebastian James (pictured) said: “I am delighted with the way the last year has gone, and very proud to be part of the highly committed 42,000-strong team in eleven countries that have made it possible. We have continued to see good like-for-like growth with a very strong performance in our mobile phone business in the UK. I am also pleased that growth has been seen in pretty much all of our businesses across the group. As a result we are confident in narrowing our profit range upwards, with PBT now expected to be between £445m and £450m for the year, an increase of approximately 17 per cent over last year.
“There has been much commentary about the state of mind of UK consumers. Our view is that consumers are ready to spend but have – rightly – become more canny, and so need to be tempted with great deals and exciting new products. We see this as encouraging. After all, launching new technology well, creating fun events and coming up with great deals for customers in both the digital and physical worlds is our stock-in-trade.
“We continue to make good progress in building out our new CWS and Knowhow businesses. We are, if anything, even more excited about the potential for these comparatively new areas of our group and have had some real and tangible wins as well as a strong pipeline and plans for the coming months and years. I look forward to sharing more detail about these and the other very real achievements of the last year across the group as well as our plans for the year ahead when we announce our full year results on June 29.”
