Dixons Carphone announces trading update (13 weeks ended 30 July 2016)

LONDON, 2016-Sep-08 — /EPR Retail News/ —
Momentum continues: strong growth and market share gains
Trading update (13 weeks ended 30 July 2016)

• Group revenue up 9% year-on-year, with like-for-like revenue up 4%
  • Strong performance in the UK & Ireland; like-for-like revenue up 4%
  • Continued growth in Nordics; like-for-like revenue up 2%
  • Very good performance in Southern Europe; like-for-like revenue up 13% driven by strong growth in Greece
• Continued market share gains
• UK & Ireland property programme on track

Note:

• In the UK&I both like-for-like and total revenue were negatively affected by approximately 1% from refurbishment disruption.
• Like-for-like revenue improved by approximately 1% as a result of sales transferred from closed stores.

Seb James, Group Chief Executive, said: “We have had another very good quarter and I am happy to be reporting this level of performance today. 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.

We have an ambitious programme of development right across the Group this year, and this 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. In the Nordics, we will soon start serving customers from our new, enormous, and state-of-the-art small-product warehouse in Sweden. This has been delivered on time, and slightly better than budget.

In our Know how 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. The Sprint rollout continues, and we now have 31 stores across 5 regions. The implementation of honeyBee is also going well at Sprint, and we have 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. 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.”

(1) Like-for-like revenues are calculated based on Headline store and internet sales using constant exchange rates. New stores are included where they have been open for a full financial year both at the beginning and end of the financial period. Revenues from franchise stores are excluded and closed stores are excluded for any period of closure during either period. Customer support agreement, insurance and wholesale revenues along with revenue from Connected World Services and other non-retail businesses are excluded from like-for-like calculations. Revenues from Carphone Warehouse stores-within-a-store are included in like-for-like.

Investor and analyst webcast
There will be a conference call for investors and analysts at 7:30 am BST (8:30 am CET) this morning.
Dial-in details – UK/International: +44(0) 20 3059 8125; passcode: 2648 (to be quoted to the operator)
Seven-day replay – UK/International: +44(0) 121 260 4861; passcode: 3984213

Next announcement

The Group will publish its interim results on Wednesday 14 December 2016.

Information on Dixons Carphone plc is available at www.dixonscarphone.com
Follow us on Twitter: @dixonscarphone and @DCSebJ

About Dixons Carphone
Dixons Carphone plc is Europe’s leading specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company, employing over 42,000 people in eleven countries.

Focused on helping customers navigate the connected world, Dixons Carphone offers a comprehensive range of electrical and mobile products, connectivity and expert after-sales services from the Geek Squad and Knowhow.

Dixons Carphone’s primary brands include Carphone Warehouse and CurrysPCWorld in the UK & Ireland, Elkjøp, Elkjøp Phonehouse, Elgiganten, Elgiganten Phonehouse, Gigantti and Lefdal in the Nordic countries, Kotsovolos in Greece, Dixons Travel in a number of UK & Ireland airports and Phone House in Spain. Our key service brands include Knowhow in the UK, Ireland and the Nordics, and Geek Squad in the UK, Ireland and Spain.

Business-to-business (B2B) services are provided through Connected World Services, PC World Business and Carphone Warehouse Business. Connected World Services aims to leverage the Group’s existing expertise, operating processes and technology to provide a range of services to businesses.

Dixons Carphone was voted ‘Retailer of the Year’ at the Retail Week Awards 2016.

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable laws, regulations or accounting standards, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Information contained on the Dixons Carphone plc website or the Twitter feed does not form part of this announcement and should not be relied on as such.

For further information:

Kate Ferry
IR, PR & Corporate Affairs Director
+44 (0)7748 933 206

Mark Reynolds
Head of Investor Relations
+44 (0)7979 696 498

Hannah Collyer
Head of Media Relations
+44 (0)7834 256 775

Nick Cosgrove, Helen Smith
Brunswick Group
+44 (0)207 404 5959

Source: Dixons Carphone