Dixons Carphone hails 'terrific' year

Dixons Carphone has reported a 21% jump in profits in its first annual results since the merger that created the mobile phone and electrical goods firm.

It reported underlying pre-tax profits of £381m in the year to 2 May, with revenues up 6% to £9.9bn.

The firm was formed last year by the merger of Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail.

"This has been a terrific first year for Dixons Carphone," said the firm's chief executive Sebastian James.

"We have seen excellent increases in both sales and profitability and we have made very encouraging progress with the tricky job of integrating these two great companies," he continued.

In the UK and Ireland, where it trades under the Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World names, sales rose by 8%.

UK sales were helped by the failure of rival mobile retailer Phones4U, which collapsed last September.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers: "Profitability at the group's core UK and Irish operations has enjoyed a solid increase, aided by gains in market share, whilst merger cost savings remain on track."

In Greece, where Dixons Carphone trades under the Kotsovolos name, the firm said it recorded an increase in like-for-like revenues, with strong demand for large screen TVs.

"We have a fantastic team in Greece," Mr James told the BBC. "They've been very entrepreneurial in thinking about every possible outcome, and how we would react to it."

However, trading in southern Europe had struggled with like-for-like sales down 5%. The firm said its business in Spain continued to operate in a "tough marketplace".

Earlier this month, Dixons Carphone announced a deal with US telecoms firm Sprint, which could lead to a joint venture opening up to 500 stores in the US.