Carphone Warehouse to pay first dividend
Substantial growth forecast by telecoms retailer
March 24 2003
Carphone Warehouse is to pay its first-ever shareholder dividend as it increases its share of the UK telecoms market.
The 1p-a-share dividend for the year to the end of March was announced as the UK’s biggest mobile phone retailer updated analysts on progress at he company.
Founder and chief executive Charles Dunstone has preferred to invest profits back into the growth of the business, and the dividend is a strong indication that the company has come of age.
Carphone Warehouse said trading since the last update in January has continued in line with expectations, with the group “well positioned to continue to deliver substantial profitable growth in the year ahead.”
Talktalk, Carphone Warehouse’s residential fixed line service launched at the start of February in competition with BT, has 31,000 customers already signed up or being processed, representing 15 per cent of the company’s UK mobile customers.