Dixons Carphone vows to fix roof while sun shines

Retailer hails success in UK but insists more investment is needed across the business

Dixons Carphone has said there is still "much to do" to improve its business and has promised to invest in order to do so as it hails a "strong" Q4.

For the 17 weeks to 2 May, total group revenue was up annually by nine per cent while for the full year, while sales across the business rose six per cent over the same period.

The UK was the standout performer in Q4, posting a 13 per cent year-on-year sales hike, beating the comparable one per cent sales boost in the Nordics and an eight per cent climb in sales across southern Europe.

For the full year, UK sales grew eight per cent annually while the Nordics enjoyed a four per cent sales boost. Southern Europe suffered a five per cent drop in sales over the same period.

Dixons Carphone's chief executive Sebastian James said the UK is doing well.

"Q4 like-for-like revenue growth was 13 per cent, improving on the momentum seen during our Christmas quarter, with both electricals and mobile trading strongly and gaining market share," he said. "Our pricing versus the market is at our most competitive ever and NPS [net promoter scores]/advocacy scores are at all-time highs. Integration is progressing as planned with key organisational structure, head office and warehousing decisions now made.

"The CPW [Carphone Warehouse] stores-within-a-store continue to perform well. There are now 233 open within CurrysPCWorld stores, of which 95 are full CPW executions, and we are averaging four additional stores each week."

But he added that the company would not be complacent and admitted there is still more to be done to improve the company.

"It is a truism that the time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining, and we will pursue continued investment in the business this year to do just that," he said.

"We are making excellent progress but there is still much to do, and many areas of the business that we want to improve further. Delivery options, IT investment, extending our free warranty programme, further training for our colleagues, Norwegian pricing and others are in our sights to make us stronger in the long term."