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DIXONS CARPHONE PRE-TAX PROFITS AT TOP END OF GUIDANCE
D
ixons Carphone has said it expects full-year pre-tax profit to be at the top end of previous guidance following a strong fourth quarter in which like-for-like revenues rose 5%. The business reported further market share gains in electricals and mobile in the UK & Ireland, Nordics and Greece. Sales in the UK & Ireland
increased 4% during the 16 weeks ended 30th April 2016 and 6% over the full year. In the Nordics, sales grew 9% and 4% respectively and although Southern Europe had a flat fourth quarter, full-year sales grew 4%. Seb James, Group Chief Executive, said: “We have continued to see good like-for-like growth with a very strong performance in our
mobile phone business in the UK. I am also pleased that growth has been seen in pretty much all of our businesses across the Group. “As a result, we are confident in narrowing our profit range upwards, with PBT now expected to be between £445 million and £450 million for the year, an increase of approximately 17% over last year.”
ARGOS SEES SLIGHT INCREASE IN Q1 LIKE-FOR-LIKE SALES
H
ome Retail Group reported like-for-like retail sales up 0.1% at Argos for the 13 weeks to 28th May 2016. Total sales grew by 2.6% to £868 million with net new space contributing 2.5%, mainly as a result of store openings in the previous financial year. The company closed two digital concessions within Homebase stores in the quarter, reducing the store estate to 843. Sales grew in both electrical and non-electrical product categories, with growth in electricals mainly attributed to the performance
in TVs, mobiles, computers and tablets, partially offset by a sales decline in white goods. Internet sales grew by 16% and represented 49% of total sales, up from 44% for the same quarter last year. John Walden, Chief Executive of the Group, said: "I am pleased with our performance in the first quarter. Argos delivered good total sales growth together with positive like-for-like growth, representing its strongest sales growth performance in eight quarters. “This was achieved against the challenging backdrop of
constrained seasonal product sales due to poor weather, on top of a deflationary pricing environment.” Walden said the proposed acquisition of the Group by Sainsbury's remains on track to complete in the third quarter of this calendar year.
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AO WORLD REPORTS DEEPER LOSSES; NEW CHAIRMAN APPOINTED
AO
World saw its losses increase for the year ended 31 March 2016 due to investment in its businesses in Germany and the Netherlands. The firm reported a pre-tax loss of £6.7 million, up from £2.9 million in the previous year. Total group revenue increased by 25.7% to £599.2 million as UK growth continued and the German business “gained traction”. AO website sales in the UK, which include AO.com and the UK AObranded eBay shop, grew 27.7% to £487.1 million, with total UK revenue up 18.6% to £558.5 million due to a further gain in market share. The company said that all product categories are growing market share and it will introduce a computing category to AO.com during the current financial year. Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer John Roberts said: "It's been another year of great progress for AO. We have continued on our journey to become the best electrical retailer in Europe, having grown our market share in all our categories and expanded the AO brand into our next country, the Netherlands.” AO also announced the appointment of Geoff Cooper as Chairman. He will succeed Richard Rose, who sold 5.58 million shares in the company in March last year, landing him a £10 million windfall. Rose will step down at the company’s AGM in July after eight years in the role. Cooper is currently chairman of the Card Factory and private company Bourne Leisure. He will be appointed a non-executive director of AO with effect from 1st July 2016.
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