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Dixons Carphone's Irish sales up 39%

Dixons Carphone is changing its name to Currys
Dixons Carphone is changing its name to Currys

Dixons Carphone - the parent company behind Currys PC World in Ireland - said it saw electricals like-for-like sales growth of 39% here, despite stores being closed for a number of weeks due to Covid-19 restrictions.

It also reported a strong performance online for currys.ie, with sales up 137% on a like for like basis.

The company also said it repaid the Irish Government's wage subsidy scheme of €3.75m.

Earlier this year, Dixons Carphone closed its Irish Carphone Warehouse business, which resulted in 486 redundancies.

The business had 69 standalone stores and 12 outlets within a store.

Jim O'Hagan, Managing Director for Ireland, said the performance of Currys PC World in Ireland was a testament to the hard work of all its staff who have "pivoted, innovated fast and delivered for customers, however they’ve chosen to shop".

"Customers responded to our strong omnichannel offering in Ireland both in store and online at currys.ie," Mr O'Hagan said.

"We have an exciting year ahead, including moving to one brand as part of the rebrand of the UK & Ireland businesses to Currys, a new technology platform and further developing ShopLive, all of which will drive our growth even further," he added.

The Dixons Carphone group today posted a 34% rise in annual profit and said it would resume paying dividends after strong online sales helped the electricals retailer offset store closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group reported an adjusted pretax profit of £156m for the year to May 1.

That topped its guidance of £151m and the £116m it earned in 2019-20 and came after it repaid government staff furlough support of £73m.

The group also today proposed a full year dividend of three pence.

Dixons Carphone has benefited from people working from home and buying equipment for their houses online.

Revenue rose 2% to £10.3 billion, with like-for-like sales of electricals up 14% despite stores in the UK, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Greece being shut for substantial periods.

Electricals online sales more than doubled to £4.7 billion.

"Technology has become even more central to people's lives. As the market leader, with the winning omnichannel business model, we can make the most of that," CEO Alex Baldock said.

The group, which plans to change its name to Currys in September, said it had seen continued strong trading in the new 2021-22 financial year.

"We continue to see evidence that our markets will be structurally larger post-pandemic", the company said.