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Dixon, Carphone hand their numbers to world +dog before the wedding

European regulator gives deal all clear, Dixons profit down

Dixons (excluding the impact of disposals) and Carphone Warehouse today reported profit spikes for fiscal '14 in what will be the last set of annual results the pair announce before the £3.7bn borg set for calendar Q3.

The European Commission yesterday gave the thumbs-up for the merger to go ahead, creating a £12bn retailing monster that has 2,900 stores employing 45k workers.

Dixons, the larger of the two, has rolled out prelims for the year ended 30 April, showing a three per cent like-for-like rise in group revenues to £7.2bn with online turnover up to £1bn.

Sales in the UK and Ireland climbed five per cent to £4.14bn as the firm "continued to take advantage of the exit of Comet", and claimed it "traded ahead of the market". A "record" Boxing Day also helped, it added.

The Nordics region grew two per cent to £2.79bn via the Elkjøp brand, but business in Greece was far less brisk, down nine per cent to £279.2m.

The company made profit after tax from continuing operations of £87.8m, up from £42.9m in the prior fiscal, but took a big hit from discontinued operations - PIXmania, plus ops in central Europe, Italy and Turkey - that left the group nursing a net loss of £70.3m (versus a £172.4m loss a year ago).

Dixons reiterated that through the merger the combined business can wring out £80m in "synergies" through a "combination of costs, revenue opportunities". The firm has already trimmed headcount at its HQ but insisted this was unrelated to the deal.

Over at Carphone Warehouse, sales were down two per cent to £3.28bn due to "reduced revenues in our dealer business" but these were "partially offset" by like-for-like growth in there retail and online channels, and a currency tailwind.

During the year it shuttered 130 stores but opened or re-sited 94, exiting the fiscal ended 29 March with 2,024 outlets of which 292 were franchises (up from 268).

Profit after tax was up to £102m from £55m a year ago helped by a £25m reduction in depreciation and amortisation costs. ®

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