Electricals and mobile phone retailer Dixons Carphone beat forecasts with a 23% rise in first half profit, helped by a strong performance in its UK market where it outperformed rivals.
The group trades as Currys, PC World and CarphoneWarehouse in Ireland and the UK, Elkjop and El Giganten in Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece.
It said today it made an underlying pretax profit of £121m in the 26 weeks to October 31.
That compares to analysts' average forecast of £111m, according to a company compiled consensus, and £98m made the same time last year.
Group sales at stores open over a year rose 5%, driven by a 7% rise in the UK & Ireland division.
The firm said a strong "Black Friday" discount day on November 27 delivered its biggest-ever single day's trade and was "a great start to Christmas."
Dixons Carphone was formed through a merger last year of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse and although investors initially reacted coolly to the plan, they have since been won over, with the shares up 37%.
The company has over 125 stores in Ireland and it is the country's largest independent electrical and communications retailer, employing over 1,050 people.
Mark Slater, the managing director of Dixons Carphone Ireland, said that the integration of the business is proving successful and its strong performance reflects this.
"Our Irish business is performing well and is contributing to the group’s success, with strong sales across our 125 Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse stores nationwide," he added.
Mr Slater said this is driven partly by economic recovery in Ireland but more significantly by the company's focus on being the destination for new technology and connectivity.
"With the addition of our new mobile operator, iD, this year, we’re preparing ourselves for our peak period of Christmas and New Year and look forward to continued success and growth in 2016," Mr Slater added.
"Against a broadly flat market overall and a very strong comparative period we have seen continued like-for-like growth driven by market share gains across all territories," the company's group chief executive Sebastian James said today.
Dixons Carphone also announced changes to its board, with the addition of the former CEO of BT Ian Livingstone as deputy chairman and Tony DeNunzio, the former head of Asda/Walmart UK as senior independent director.
Roger Taylor, the former CEO of Carphone Warehouse, will stand down as deputy chairman of the board with immediate effect.
