Dixons Carphone to close 134 stores

Dixons Carphone is to close 134 stores as part of its merger process.

It plans to combine its remaining PC World and Currys stores and install a Carphone Warehouse outlet into each of them.

However, the move is not expected to result in any job losses, in fact some new posts may be created.

"We are very confident that the impact on sales and colleague numbers will be neutral or better", according to group chief executive, Seb James.

He told BBC Radio 5live: "When we build one beautiful, refitted new 3-in-1 superstore and we have one great Carphone Warehouse in town... sales go up and also we end up usually needing more colleagues to work on the shop floor."

About £50m will be invested in refitting the stores and there will be a £70m provision to cover shop closures and other costs. However, the company expects the changes to result in an extra £20m a year profit from 2017 onwards.

The announcement came as the mobile phone and electrical goods firm announced a record Black Friday amid strong Christmas trading.

Like-for-like sales, which strip out new store openings, rose 5% for the group as a whole in the 10 weeks to 9 January.

On Black Friday the group took £140m, with a big rise in sales online. "I think that's quite sensible," said Mr James.

"Customers saw the scenes that were quite disruptive in some supermarkets last year and decided, I'll play it safe this year and just shop online".

The group continued to increase its market share across all the territories it trades in - the UK and Ireland, the Nordic region and southern Europe - and especially UK mobile.