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Dixons Carphone confirms 'plenty of work to do'
Dixons Carphone's final results filled in the gaps after warning of a disappointing drop in annual profits only three weeks ago.
For the 12 months to 28 April, revenue of £10.5bn was up 3% on the previous year, with like-for-like sales up 4%, but profit before tax falling 24% to £382m. Earnings per share fell 22% to 26.2p and free cash flow only dipped 3% to £172m, with the dividend held flat at 11.25p.
PBT for the coming year is expected to fall again to around £300m, but with cash conversion remaining at a similar level.
Just over two months since he joined, chief executive Alex Baldock was remaining chipper despite having already presided over a profit warning and revealed a huge historical customer data breach, saying the leadership team was working "at pace" to set the new direction, with his main strategic update to come in December.
Budgeting for a contraction in the UK electricals market, Dixons is planning to use its scale to maintain market share, but expects cost increases to only be partially offset by improving the product range and reducing markdown. In mobile, "progress" was reported in contract discussions with the networks with the aim of improving the business model.
"Recent events have underlined that we have plenty of work to do, and it will take time, but I'm even more confident than the day I took the job in our long-term prospects.
"We're number one, maintaining or growing share in each of our markets, with people and scale multichannel capabilities no competitor can rival.
"We can make more of these strengths, by bringing clear long-term direction that sharpens our focus on our core, and that better joins up both our offer to customers and our business behind the scenes. There's nothing here that can't be done, and we expect top and bottom-line benefit of doing it."