Carphone Warehouse has a good quarter

Carphone Warehouse had a good first quarter, boosted by improved subscriptions and new handsets and camera phones. For the 13 weeks ended 27 June, Carphone Warehouse saw total subscriptions grow 21.9 per cent to 1.22m. The group turned over £489.5m, up from £382m for same time last year.

Contract connections grew by 25.6 per cent and pre-pay sales grew 18.5 per cent.

Retail revenues were up 23.2 per cent to £221.5m. Fixed line revenues grew 71.9 per cent to £94.1m. Excluding the impact of acquisitions N Tel and Xtra, revenue grew by 47.7 per cent. TalkTalk had 511,000 customers at the end of the period. Carphone Warehouse intends to launch broadband services later this year and "will offer line rental when a "fit for purpose" wholesale solution is available".

Charles Dunstone, chief executive at Carphone Warehouse, said: "The year has started very well. The retail business has continued the momentum of last year and the benefits of sustained subscription connections growth are feeding through strongly into our other business streams.

TalkTalk is increasing its market share in a competitive environment and Opal’s margins are ahead of our expectations, thanks to a significant improvement in the revenue mix."

The firm opened 65 new stores in the period bringing its total to 1,279. Its next trading update will be released 6 October.

The full update is here. ®

Related stories

BT rivals demand Ofcom action
Carphone Warehouse cashes in on 3G
Carphone Warehouse goes Swiss