Dixons Carphone reiterates guidance despite profit tumble

Dixons Carphone on Thursday reported a plunge in interim profit as mobile phone sales slumped, but still held full year guidance.

Pre-tax profits at the electronics retailer fell 60% to £24m as revenue dropped by 4% to £4.71bn. The company left its interim dividend unchanged at 2.25p per share.

Mobile phone turnover from the UK & Ireland slid 18% to £830m, with Dixons saying it had expected the division to struggle amid changes in customer behaviour and continued challenges in the 24 month postpaid contract market.

The company has struggled with changing consumer habits as customers are now saving money by keeping handsets for longer, moving to sim-only contracts and haggling harder when their current deals expire.

Dixons said it anticipated the division would reach break-even by 2022.

Overall, the firm said it remained on track to deliver annual adjusted pre-tax profits of around £210m.

Domestic and international electricals sales and profits were forecast to improve over the full year as the unit benefited from cost savings programmes implemented in the first six months of the year.

At 0850 GMT, the shares were up 4.5% at 137.85p.

(Writing by Frank Prenesti. Editing by Michele Maatouk and Josh White)