Dixons Carphone has swung back into profit and reported soaring sales as boss Alex Baldock hailed the retailer’s strong performance in the financial year.

For the year ending May 1, Dixons Carphone reported statutory profits before tax of £33m up from the £140m loss it registered in the same period the previous year.

The group’s adjusted profit before tax of £156m was a 34% increase year on year. 

The electricals specialist also reported a 22% increase in EBIT to £262m, while total group revenues also jumped 2% to £10.3bn. 

The retailer reported strong trading and increased market share for the period across all of its international markets.

Sales in the UK and Ireland jumped 8% to £4.92bn, while Dixons Carphone’s international business recorded a 17% increase in sales to £4.7bn.

Overall online sales grew 114% for the group to £3.4bn, which the retailer said offset sales losses from enforced store closures and in Dixons Travel.

The retailer’s mobile business continued to struggle however, reporting a statutory EBIT loss of £117m for the year, with sales down 55% year on year.

Chief executive Alex Baldock said: “I’m so proud of my colleagues. They’ve navigated the challenges of the pandemic with skill and energy, helped many millions of people enjoy vital technology, kept our transformation on track and performed strongly.

“Our big investments in colleague wellbeing, skills and reward have meant more engaged colleagues, and in turn more satisfied customers. This bodes well for our sustainable success.

“Technology has become even more central to people’s lives. As the market leader, with the winning omnichannel business model, we can make the most of that.

“The past year has seen us do so, growing a big online business and adding it to our in-store strengths. We’re now financially stronger too, allowing us to pay back over £200m to governments and to recommence our dividend.

“But we’re most excited about what lies ahead. New technology platforms will add more fuel to our growth and to innovation that customers love and no one else can get close to, whether getting them their amazing technology ever faster, or helping them 24/7 with live video shopping.

“This year, we move to one brand in the UK (as we have in each international market), and Currys can become ever more the first choice for all things tech, electrical and mobile, products and services alike. The start of the financial year has seen continued strong trading in all our markets and I’m more confident than ever in our prospects.”

Dixons Carphone said the start of the new financial year had seen continued strong trading, and the retailer said it was confident post-pandemic its core markets will be “structurally larger”.

It said it expected to generate cumulative free cash flow of £1bn and EBIT margins of at least 4% by 2023/24.

 

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