Carphone Warehouse calls in strong performance
Like-for-like retail growth despite tough comparatives
Carphone Warehouse has seen good sales growth across the quarter, with both mobile sales and fixed line services growing customer numbers.
In the 13 week to December 25, Carphone Warehosue saw 24.9 per cent total growth in retail revenues, with 11.2 per cent like-for-like growth. There was a 23.1 per cent growth in connections to 2.06m.
The quarter saw 95 new stores opened, taking the total to 1,424 and hitting the group’s target of 200 new stores in the financial year. Up to 30 more new openings are expected by the end of March.
The company said the mobile market was strong over the Christmas period, particularly pre-pay sales up 33 per cent compared to subscription connections up 8.9 per cent.
Charles Dunstone, chief executive, said: “These figures represent a further period of strong growth. Our stores traded well and we achieved like-for-like growth despite an excellent Christmas last year.
“TalkTalk continues to attract customers at a healthy rate and the initial response to our broadband package has been promising. Looking ahead, we believe market conditions will continue to play to our strengths, and we are confident of delivering a full year result ahead of current consensus market expectations.”
Total fixed line revenues grew by 58 per cent across the quarter. TalkTalk UK added a further 114,000 customers in the quarter, taking the total to 762,000.
[img r]carphonewarehousebluewater.jpg[/img]Carphone said the the outlook for its retail business remains positive as the mobile networks continue to compete aggressively for customers, and it expects customer moves to 3G services to gain “significant momentum” in the second half of 2005.
