Carphone Warehouse up

May 29, 2001
Web posted at: 0805 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Europe's largest mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse posted a 62 percent rise in annual profit on Tuesday as sales surged.

Carphone said annual pretax profits before one-time items and amortization rose to £49.6 million ($70 million) from £30.6 million the previous year, beating analyst expectations.

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Sales increased 59 percent to £1.1 billion from £697.7 million last year. Earnings per share, including exceptional items, rose to 4.9 pence from 2.6 pence, the company said.

Carphone also announced the acquisition of French telecoms services company Communications De Mobile Cellulaires for £48 million in cash, a transaction which would bring it 620,000 new customers.

"Our continuing success in the last 12 months has been based on attracting a high-quality customer base," said Charles Dunstone, chief executive.

The company, which now has 1,059 outlets compared with 631 branded stores the previous year, said its European scale enables it to get cheaper deals from networks and handset manufacturers.

The reduction in pre-pay mobile phone subsidies brought in by handset makers on May 1 2001 had a marked impact in the total number of mobile phones sold in the UK, Carphone said.

The company said this had most impact on the volume of lower price pre-pay handsets and Carphone's sales among the higher-value pre-pay and subscription customers remain robust.

Shares in Carphone Warehouse (CPW), which were floated in July last year at 200 pence a share, rose 3.6 percent to 145 pence after the earnings were announced.

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Carphone Warehouse

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