Dixons Carphone hails 'excellent year' in UK as fourth-quarter sales rise

The electricals specialist said full-year profits would come in between £445m and £450m – the upper end of previous guidance – after group like-for-likes in its final quarter of the year advanced 5%.

Like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland increased 4% during the 16 weeks ending April 30 and grew 6% across the full year. Total sales in its domestic market climbed 2% during the year.

Dixons Carphone said performance was boosted by its three-in-one formats, of which it now has 273 across the UK and Ireland.

The retailer added that its price position was “its most competitive ever” and also lauded “all-time high” customer satisfaction scores.

Dixons Carphone said like-for-like sales in the Nordics grew at the faster rate of 9% during the fourth quarter and 4% over the wider year as the group made market share gains across electricals and mobile in the UK and Ireland, the Nordics and Greece.

However, fourth quarter like-for-like sales in its Southern European business were flat against a “turbulent backdrop”, although they grew 4% across the year.

Dixons Carphone chief executive Seb James said he was “delighted” with the group’s performance across the full year.

He added: “There has been much commentary about the state of mind of UK consumers. 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.”

James added that Dixons Carphone is making “good progress” in building its CWS and Knowhow business and said it would share more details when it unveils full year results on June 29.