Almost 100 Carphone Warehouse stores will close this year as the retailer’s new chief executive begins a new programme of cost-saving measures.
Newly-installed boss Alex Baldock has announced plans to slash the retailers’ store portfolio by 92 shops in order to cut costs and improve gross margins.
Just two months into his tenure at Dixons Carphone’s helm, Baldock’s main aim is to improve the health of the mobile phone and electrical retailer, who has suffered in recent years against changing consumer habits.
Dixons Carphone said it believed profit would fall by 21 per cent in the current year.
Baldock warned that the store closures were a necessary step at a time of a contracting UK electrical market.
The retailer said it expected headline pretax profit for its 2018/2019 financial year to come in at around £300 million, 21 per cent behind the £382 million it forecast for the 12 months ending April 28.
“Though there’s plenty to fix, it’s all fixable,” Baldock said in a statement.
He added: “Right now, with our international business in good shape, we’re focusing early action on the UK.
“In electricals, we’re focused on gross margin recovery. In mobile, we’re stabilising our performance through improvements to our proposition and network agreements.
“In both, we’ll work hard to improve our cost efficiency. We won’t tolerate our current performance in mobile, or as a group. We know we can do a lot better.”
Despite the severe new cost-saving measures, Dixons Carphone insisted no jobs would be lost as staff will be offered the chance to move to larger outlets nearby.
The announcement amid Dixons Carphone’s trading update, which stated a three per cent rise in total revenue in the year to April 16, while like-for-like sales increased four per cent.
In the UK, comparable revenue grew two per cent and increased by one per cent in the fourth quarter.
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