Vodafone row with Carphone resolved
VODAFONE Group is expected to resume a sales agreement with Carphone Warehouse, ending a three-year dispute.
It is understood that the deal would result in Vodafone mobile contracts being sold in Carphone’s 800 UK stores for the first time since 2006 when Vodafone switched to an exclusive agreement with Phones4U.
Carphone said on Friday that it is making progress with plans to split its telecom and retail divisions in two, and said it expects to see signs of a consumer recovery by the end of this year, lifting its shares to an eight-month high.
Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone firm by revenue, said last month that its pre-tax profit had slid by 53.5 per cent in the year to March 2009, hit by an impairment charge of £5.9bn, mostly against its struggling Spanish business.
The drops caused the company to accelerate its £1bn cost cutting programme and shed 500 jobs in the UK, and predict profits to be flat in the coming year.