Consumer electricals and mobile phone retailer Dixons Carphone edged up its guidance for annual profit on the back of strong Christmas trading, it said on Tuesday.

The firm said it expected a 2015-16 pretax profit of £440-450 million (€575-588 million) versus analysts’ previous average forecast of £440 million and the £381 million made in 2014-15.

Dixons Carphone, which trades as Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Ireland, Elkjop and El Giganten in Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece, said sales at stores open over a year rose 5 per cent in the 10 weeks to January 9th.

That was ahead of analysts’ average forecast of a rise of 3 per cent.

Dixons Carphone, formed through a merger in 2014, also updated on strategic progress, signalling an intention to bring its three brands under one roof. It said it would merge the remaining PC World and Currys stores and insert a Carphone Warehouse offering, which would reduce store store numbers by 134 but result in an anticipated neutral or better impact on sales and staff numbers. The move will require investment of £50 million and a provision of about £70 million in 2015-16, but boost profit by about £20 million from the 2017-18 year.

The group also said the Sprint store trial in the United States had been successful and it had reached agreement to activate the full joint venture to manage a targeted 500 stores. A new distribution agreement with TalkTalk in the UK has also been signed.

Shares in the firm, up 10 per cent over the last year, closed Monday at 467.1 pence, valuing the business at £5.4 billion.

Reuters