// Dixons Carphone full year underlying profits plunge 51% to £166m
// On a statutory basis though, losses were narrowed down to £140m
// The company’s mobile arm suffered but its online sales surged 22%, boosted by a 166% surge during lockdown
Dixons Carphone has seen annual underlying profits more than halve after a hit from lockdown store closures and worse-than-expected sales in its mobile arm.
The parent company of Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World reported underlying pre-tax profits of £166 million for its financial year ending May 2, a 51 per cent year-on-year drop from £339 million the previous year.
On a statutory basis, the electricals retail group saw group pre-tax losses of £140 million, but this was narrowed from losses of £259 million the year before.
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In its core UK and Ireland division, Dixons Carphone booked a one per cent uptick in full year like-for-like sales and total revenue, but adjusted EBIT declined 10 per cent to £162 million.
Meanwhile its international operations saw an eight per cent increase in adjusted EBIT to £136 million, on the back of a four per cent increase in like-for-like sales.
Electricals sales held up well amid the lockdown thanks to surging online sales jumping 22 per cent across the year, boosted by a 166 per cent surge in April during the first full month of lockdown in the UK.
Dixons Carphone sand online sales have continued to grow since the year end.
However, UK mobile sales suffered, with an EBIT loss of £104 million on the back of a 20 per cent sales decline.
Dixons Carphone warned that losses for the mobile division in the current 2020-21 financial year are expected to widen.
The firm also said its wider profit declines were a result of store closures during the year, such as the shuttering of 531 standalone Carphone Warehouse shops, and coronavirus-related costs.
“Since the year-end, all our electricals businesses have continued to grow sales,” Dixons Carphone group chief executive Alex Baldock said.
“Where our stores have reopened we’ve performed well, while continuing to see strong online sales growth.
“That said, we expect a weakening of consumer spending later this year and are being cautious in our planning.”
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