Dixons Carphone reports record full-year profits

Dixons Carphone's annual profit has surpassed £500m for the first time, following a "good year" for the Currys and PC World owner.

The firm, formed through a merger of Dixons and Carphone Warehouse in 2014, said profit rose by 10% to £501m.

In the UK, Dixons said demand for electricals was "solid", particularly for computers and white goods.

That helped offset a "more challenging" mobile market, affected by Samsung's exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

Samsung was forced to recall and axe the handset after faulty batteries caused some to burn or explode.

Commenting on its results for the year to 29 April, Dixons Carphone said that in the UK and Ireland, "the mobile market was more challenging due to product safety and supply issues, limited product innovation and delays in product launches".

Nevertheless, like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland rose by 4% in the UK and the company hopes to benefit from the release of Apple iPhone 8 later this year. Total sales for the region, which is Dixon Carphone's largest region, rose by 2% to £6.5bn.

Total sales for the entire group rose by 3% to £10.5bn. In the Nordics and Southern Europe, revenues increased by 5% and 4% respectively.

However, retail analyst Nick Bubb said it would be "perhaps churlish" to point out that about two thirds of the revenue growth and almost all of the rise in profits was due to currency movements.

Shares in Dixons Carphone rose 0.5% to 297.4p in morning trading in London, but have fallen 16% this year.