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Dixons Carphone has unveiled its latest trading statement, revealing rising sales in Q4, with CEO Seb James commenting on the state of mind of UK consumers.
Group like-for-like revenues were up 5% in Q4, as well as in the full year, with James noting a ‘very strong performance’ in the firm’s mobile phone business in the UK.
Growth has been seen in pretty much all businesses across the Group, and as a result, Dixons Carphone is confident in narrowing its profit range upwards, with PBT now expected to be between £445m and £450m for the year, an increase of approximately 17% over last year.
“There has been much commentary about the state of mind of UK consumers, commented James. “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.”
Touching on the UK and Ireland in particular, James said the retailer has an ‘excellent’ year, with full year like-for-like revenues up 6% driven by mobile phone market share gain together with good growth in electricals.
Total revenues grew by 2%, and Q4 like-for-like revenues grew 4% in the UK and Ireland.
There are now 273 Carphone Warehouse stores-within-a-store open within the group’s 3-in-1 formats. “These continue to perform well, said James. “Our pricing versus the market is at its most competitive ever, customer satisfaction scores are at all-time highs and we continue to gain share in both mobile and electricals.
“The acquisition of Simplifydigital, the UK’s largest – and fastest growing – multi-channel switching platform, leaves the business well-positioned to benefit from growth in the multi-play market.”
