Connections up, as sales are proving it's good to talk
Carphone Warehouse has announced 'a further period of strong growth', powered by a robust performance at its stores over Christmas. Like-for-like sales increased by 11.2 per cent in the 13 weeks to December 25 driven by pre-pay handset sales. Pre-pay and sim-free connections surged 33 per cent to 1.31 million.

'These figures represent a further period of strong growth. Our stores traded well and we achieved like-for-like growth despite an excellent Christmas last year,' said Carphone Warehouse chief executive officer Charles Dunstone.

Overall sales at the group's 1,424 stores, which account for half group revenues, increased by 24.9 per cent to£355.8 million in the same period.

The announcement follows news from Dixons Group yesterday that mobile phone chain The Link struggled in the eight weeks to January, with flat like-for-like sales. The performance followed an 8 per cent like-for-like increase in the 28 weeks to November 13.

Dunstone described the outlook at Carphone Warehouse's retail arm as 'positive', adding: 'We expect the migration of customers to 3G platforms to gain significant momentum in the second half of the calendar year. On the fixed line side, Talk Talk is set to continue its strong progress and we are encouraged by the initial response to our broadband proposition. Overall we expect the group to achieve a full year result ahead of current consensus market expectations.'

Talk Talk UK added a further 114,000 customers in the fourth quarter, taking the total base to 762,000. Total connections at Carphone Warehouse rose 23.1 per cent to 2.06 million. Total group sales in the period increased 28.1 per cent to£668.6 million.

Broker Investec said Carphone Warehouse 'remains a superior operational and earnings story'.

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