Dixons Carphone rings up higher profit guidance after buzzing Christmas

After an encouraging 10 weeks of Christmas trading, Dixons Carphone has lifted profit guidance slightly above consensus forecasts and said it will go ahead with the full roll-out of stores in the USA.

Like-for-like sales were up 5% in the third-quarter, with an all-time record day on Black Friday as the FTSE 100 electronics retailer said it now expected profit before tax to range between £440m and £450m for the full year.

And after a trial trading period went well, the group confirmed its US joint venture with Sprint will go into full production towards its target of 500 stores.

Closer to home, Dixons Carphone will merge its three store formats -- PC World, Currys and Carphone Warehouse -- across the rest of its portfolio, investing an extra £50m and taking a £70m charge in the current financial year against costs and asset write-downs as it reduces its store count by 134.

"I am very happy to be reporting a further year of good like-for-like growth over our peak trading period," said chief executive Seb James.

"The two-humped camel shape that emerged last year was further accentuated with an all-time record day on Black Friday and a strong promotional period after Christmas. In all territories we saw continued market share gain, especially in UK mobile."

Looking across the regions, the Nordics enjoyed a 'huge' Black Friday that helped deliver 3% growth over the period despite the impact of currency weakness and oil price slump on the Norwegian market.

Southern Europe grew 9% with the Greek business in particular going from strength to strength, according to James.

The consensus forecasts for LFL sales were: UK 4.0%, Nordics 1.0%, Southern Europe 2.5%, adding up to a group total of 3.0%, with full year underlying PBT for the year to April expected to be £440m.