Dixons Carphone, Europe's second largest electricals retailer, beat forecasts with a 10 per cent rise in full-year profit and said it was "well positioned to flourish" despite Britain's tough economic outlook.
The firm, which trades as Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Ireland, Elkjop and Elgiganten in Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece, said on Wednesday it made an underlying pretax profit of £501 million (€507 million) in the year to April 29th.
That record outcome compares with analysts’ average forecast of £498 million and £457 million made in 2015-16.
“While the UK consumer environment seems to be holding up for us, there will undoubtedly continue to be changes in the way people buy all of the products that we sell,” said chief executive Seb James.
Dixons Carphone raised its dividend 15 per cent to 11.25 pence a share.
Strong run
Though the firm has had a strong run of trading over the last year its shares have fallen 17 per cent so far in 2017, making it one of the worst fallers in Britain's FTSE 100 index of blue chip stocks since the country voted to leave the European Union last June.
The decline reflects its exposure to high-cost goods and perceived vulnerability to a squeeze in consumers’ spending power this year.
Surveys published on Tuesday showed British consumer confidence plunged during the political crisis sparked by prime minister Theresa May’s election flop.
British consumers have been hit by a sharp rise in inflation, caused in large part by the fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote, and by a slowdown in wage growth. The housing market is also starting to cool.
– (Reuters)
