An online order was placed every eight seconds and a television sold every minute during the Black Friday sales at Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse in Ireland.
The Irish arm of British chain Dixons Carphone said sales at Currys PC World rose 22 per cent year-on-year with the Black Friday sale – on November 23rd last year – delivering a substantial boost in footfall. Black Friday, originating in the US, has become a global sales event where retailers slash prices.
While bricks-and-mortar retail was important to the chain, online sales increased by 70 per cent during the Christmas trading period.
Overall the group said it had made good progress implementing its new strategy, reporting a small rise in underlying revenue in the key Christmas period and maintaining its profit guidance for the full year.
The group launched a new strategy last December when it slumped to a £440 million (€498 million) first-half loss and cut its dividend. It had been affected by tougher conditions in the mobile phone market as customers keep their handsets for longer.
Mobile fall
It said like-for-like revenue rose 1 per cent in the 10 weeks to January 5th, despite analysts’ average forecast for a flat outcome.
In the main UK and Ireland business, electricals like-for-like sales rose 2 per cent but mobile sales on the same basis fell 7 per cent, reflecting a continued decline in the postpay market.
Like-for-like sales rose 3 per cent in the Nordics and jumped 19 per cent in Greece.
The group kept its guidance for a 2018-19 underlying pretax profit of about £300 million, down from £382 million made in 2017-18.
Shares in Dixons Carphone, down 26 per cent over the past year, closed Monday at 137.6p, valuing the business at £1.59 billion.
Sky News reported on Monday that activist investor Elliott Advisors was exploring plans to buy a “big stake” in the firm, and might want it to sell its overseas businesses. – Additional reporting: Reuters
