Carphone Warehouse enjoying 2009

Divorce now affordable

Posted in IT Channel, 23rd July 2009 09:52 GMT

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Carphone Warehouse is bearing up as it prepares to bisect itself, despite Charles Dunstone's dire predictions.

The company is already splitting its results into TalkTalk and Best Buy Europe in preparation for division, with the former reporting the addition of 47,000 broadband customers during the quarter while the latter has sold three per cent more mobile connections. The two companies now have separate bank accounts as a prelude to the separation which is scheduled for next March.

As a trading statement (pdf) rather than a financial return, the company only provides gross revenue figures, but those show Best Buy Europe (of which Carphone Warehouse owns half) making £773m, up six per cent on the same period last year, while TalkTalk revenue is down two per cent to £340m. For the BestBuy business it said, "we retain our guidance of broadly flat EBIT for the year to March 2010."

TalkTalk has managed to get another 59,000 of its broadband customers onto unbundled exchanges, putting the total up to 79 per cent of the 2.85m customers onto the TalkTalk network - which will be welcome news for recently-acquired Tiscali's TV operation which can only be sold to unbundled customers. That helped drive the average revenue per user up five per cent to £23.30.

Best Buy Europe has opened another four of its Wireless World stores, putting the total up to eight. While a few franchises have closed their doors, the company has opened up enough new stores to bring the total up to 2,450 - one percent more than at the same time last year. ®

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