Carphone Warehouse in smartphone sales surge
CARPHONE Warehouse yesterday raised its profit guidance for the third time in six months, boosted by demand for smartphones and its US growth.
Europe’s largest independent mobile phone retailer raised its forecast for earnings per share in the year to 31 March to a range of 14.5p to 15p from its previous guidance of 13.5p to 14p.
That was despite big losses anticipated at new UK megastores, which have been opened in partnership with US electricals giant Best Buy.
Like-for-like sales at CPW Europe, part of the Best Buy Europe joint venture, fell 1.7 per cent during the fourth-quarter compared with a year earlier.
But chief executive Roger Taylor said: “We are well positioned to continue to capitalise on the rapid development and proliferation of smartphones and the ever-expanding range of tablets coming to the market despite the uncertainty around the economic environment.”