DC..L Regulatory News (DC.)

Dixons Carphone plc 

Continued momentum in Q4. A very strong year for Dixons Carphone.

Trading Update (16 weeks ended 30 April 2016)

• Group Headline PBT now expected to be between £445m and £450m for the year, in the top half of previous guidance[1]

• Group like-for-like revenues up 5% in Q4 and in the full year

• Year-end net debt expected to be below £300m

• Further market share gains across electricals and mobile in the UK & Ireland, Nordics and Greece

• Continued improvements in customer satisfaction and price competitiveness across all key markets

Seb James, Group Chief Executive, said:

"I am delighted with the way the last year has gone, and very proud to be part of the highly committed 42,000-strong team in eleven countries that have made it possible. We have continued to see good like-for-like growth with a very strong performance in our mobile phone business in the UK. I am also pleased that growth has been seen in pretty much all of our businesses across the Group. As a result we are confident in narrowing our profit range upwards, with PBT now expected to be between £445m and £450m for the year, an increase of approximately 17% over last year.

There has been much commentary about the state of mind of UK consumers. Our view is that consumers are ready to spend but have - rightly - become more canny, and so need to be tempted with great deals and exciting new products. We see this as encouraging; after all, launching new technology well, creating fun events and coming up with great deals for customers in both the digital and physical worlds is our stock-in-trade.

We continue to make good progress in building out our new CWS and Knowhow businesses. We are, if anything, even more excited about the potential for these comparatively new areas of our Group and have had some real and tangible wins as well as a strong pipeline and plans for the coming months and years. I look forward to sharing more detail about these and the other very real achievements of the last year across the Group as well as our plans for the year ahead when we announce our full year results on June 29th."

UK & Ireland

The UK & Ireland has had an excellent year with full year like-for-like revenues up 6% driven by mobile phone market share gain together with good growth in electricals. Total revenues grew by 2%[3]. Q4 like-for-like revenues grew 4% against a particularly strong sales number in the comparative period. There are now 273 Carphone Warehouse stores-within-a-store open within our 3-in-1 formats and these continue to perform well. Our pricing versus the market is at its most competitive ever, customer satisfaction scores are at all-time highs and we continue to gain share in both mobile and electricals. The acquisition of Simplifydigital, the UK's largest - and fastest growing - multi-channel switching platform, leaves the business well-positioned to benefit from growth in the multi-play market.

Nordics

The Nordics delivered full year like-for-like revenues up 4% whilst continuing to drive price competitiveness and delivering new high levels of customer satisfaction. Q4 like-for-like revenues grew 9%. The Warehousing project at Jönköping is progressing well and we have successfully integrated the Infocare business, which gives us a base upon which to build our services proposition in the Nordics.

Southern Europe

Southern Europe has had a good year against a very turbulent backdrop, delivering full year like-for-like revenues up 4%. Q4 like-for-like revenues were flat despite a government laptop promotion in Greece in the prior year.

Investor and analyst webcast

There will be a conference call for investors and analysts at 8:00 am BST (9:00am CET) this morning.

Dial-in details - UK/International: +44(0) 20 3003 2666; passcode: 6482822

Seven-day replay - UK/International: +44(0) 20 8196 1998; passcode: 6482822

Next announcement

The Group will publish its full year results on Wednesday 29 June 2016.

For further information

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable laws, regulations or accounting standards, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Information contained on the Dixons Carphone plc website or the Twitter feed does not form part of this announcement and should not be relied on as such.