Dixons Carphone sees modest growth in first quarter

Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone posted a trading update for the first quarter on Thursday, with group revenue up 9% year-on-year and like-for-like revenue improving 4% in the 13 weeks to 30 July.

The FTSE 100 firm, which operates the Carphone Warehouse, Currys PC World and Dixons Travel brands among others, said performance in the UK and Ireland was “strong”, with like-for-like revenue up 4%.

Both like-for-like and total revenue in the region were negatively affected by around 1% from refurbishment disruption, the board said, but like-for-like revenue also improved 1% as a result of sales transferred from closed stores.

Growth in like-for-like revenue was 2% in the Nordics, while Southern Europe delivered an exceptionally strong improvement of 13%, which the firm said was driven by performance in Greece.

“We have had another very good quarter and I am happy to be reporting this level of performance today,” said group chief executive Seb James.

“We are delivering pleasing growth in all markets and continued high levels of customer satisfaction, and, thus far, continue to see no detectable impact of the Brexit vote on consumer behaviour in the UK.”

James said the company has an ambitious programme of development right across the group this year, which s is being delivered on plan.

“In the UK & Ireland, our exciting new eCommerce platform for Carphone Warehouse is now live, and our 3-in-1 property programme is well on track.

“In addition, we are now able to deliver the whole Dixons Carphone small-product range to customers across 500 Carphone Warehouse stores, making us one of the biggest and most convenient click-and-collect organisations in the UK,” James explained.

“In the Nordics, we will soon start serving customers from our new, enormous, and state-of-the-art small-product warehouse in Sweden.”

James said the project was delivered on time, and slightly ahead of budget.

“In our Knowhow division, we continue to plan for our Leeds services pilot later this month and develop our brand and propositions.

“We are seeing real progress in our Connected World Services business as well, and have signed a new agreement with TalkTalk which sees us expanding our distribution activity significantly,” James said.

“The Sprint rollout continues, and we now have 31 stores across 5 regions.”

He explained that the implementation of honeyBee is also going well at Sprint, and the company has a strong pipeline of potential new honeyBee clients.

“Looking forward, we are optimistic about the future and about our ability to continue to outperform, without in any way being complacent.

“We live in a world with increasingly discerning customers and with more moving parts than ever and we will continue to succeed only by remaining nimble and determined,” James commented.

“We are lucky to have such a strong cohort of people to make this happen, and I would like to finish by thanking them for their hard work so far this year.”