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Dixons Carphone reports lower quarterly sales despite World Cup boost

Published: 07:47 06 Sep 2018 BST

Dixons Carphone
The retailer left its full-year guidance unchanged

Dixons Carphone Plc (LON:DC.) reported lower first-quarter revenue as weaker consumer confidence and online competition continued to weigh on UK sales.

Revenue dropped 2% on a reported basis and was flat on a like-for-like basis with growth in Greece offset by a poor performance in the Nordics and the UK and Ireland. Online revenue edged up 13% with the penetration rate rising 2.6 percentage points to 21.4%, reflecting an increasing preference among consumers to shop online.

READ: Dixons Carphone shares plunge as it warns current year profit to drop by 21%, to close shops

In the UK and Ireland division, revenue declined 2% on a reported basis and like-for-like sales were flat.

The World Cup boosted sales of consumer electronics but softer sales of white goods and computing resulted in flat like-for-like sales in the UK electrical arm. Like-for-like sales in UK mobile fell 1% as fewer consumers committed to phone contracts and instead chose sim only and sim free deals.

Reported revenue in the Nordics dipped 2% and like-for-like sales were flat. Greece reported revenue jumped 11% and like-for-like sales gained 9%, outperforming the market.

Dixons Carphone said it continues to expect a pre-tax profit of £300mln for the year and left all other guidance unchanged.

First quarter in line with expectations 

Chief executive Alex Baldock said the quarterly results were in line with expectations.

He added: “We've made good progress in setting a clear long-term direction for the business, one that sharpens our focus on the core, and that better joins up both our offer to customers and our business behind the scenes,” said chief executive Alex Baldock.

“I look forward to giving a fuller update on our plans and progress in December."

Turnaround plan Baldock is carrying out a restructuring of the company to address the group’s recent weak performance at its high street stores. As part of the turnaround plan, the group will shut 92 stores this year.

READ: Dixons Carphone says about 10mln customers records may have been obtained in 2017 cyber-attack

At the full year results in June, Baldock warned that there was “plenty of work to be done” and that it would “take time” to revive the business. 

Earlier the same month, the restructuring plan hit a snag when millions of customers had their card and personal details hacked.

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