UK off to an 'impressive start' for Dixons Carphone in H1

But local tablet and PC sales slumped

The UK and Ireland was the stand-out performer for Dixons Carphone in its H1, with its sales growth figure topping that of its other regions combined.

For the six months to 31 October, group profit after tax jumped 19 per cent annually to £86m, on revenue which over the same period grew five per cent to £4.4bn.

Sales in the UK were up seven per cent to £2.9bn, while its EBIT rocketed almost a third (31 per cent) annually to £101m.

Sales growth in the UK trumped that of the Nordics and southern Europe, where sales grew one per cent to £1.2bn, and four per cent to £257m annually over the same period.

Dixons Carphone's chief executive Sebastian James said the UK stood out in H1.

"This has been a very good first half for Dixons Carphone," he said. "Against a broadly flat market overall and a very strong comparative period, we have seen continued like-for-like growth driven by market share gains across all territories. Our business in the UK and Ireland has had an impressive start to the year with 31 per cent earnings growth."

But much of the success in the UK business came from outside the IT space, the company said in a trading update.

"The electricals business has delivered a consistent result in the first half, with notable growth in the sale of white goods offsetting a fall in demand for tablets and PCs following recent market trends," it said. "Television sales held up well despite tough World Cup driven comparatives. Our mobile business in the UK and Ireland performed well."