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Dixons Carphone has announced that like-for-like electrical sales soared by 17% in the half-year ended 31 October 2020, despite the fact that stores in the UK, Ireland and Greece were shut for “substantial” periods throughout the year.
In the same period, statutory profit before tax rose to £45m, up from a loss of £86m reported the year before.
It comes as electrical online sales growth rocketed 114% to £1.8bn, with online electrical sales in the UK and Ireland rising by 145% to £1.3bn.
Nonetheless, the estimated impact on pre-tax profit since the start of the pandemic was around £155m.
CEO Alex Baldock said: “We’ve grown sales and profits, preserving our market leadership while accelerating our transformation in the UK, and continuing to power ahead internationally.
“We’ve achieved this performance by doing what we said we’d do. We’re winning online, and have triple-digit growth and rapid market share gains to show for it. Still, most customers prefer to buy technology through a mix of online and in store, and we’ve innovated fast to bring the best of both digital and physical shopping to every customer.”
He added: “The outlook remains uncertain, and we’re still nowhere near our full potential. Much hard work lies ahead. But this year has shown this business’s qualities, especially the grit and skill of our colleagues.
“Our strategy has been stress-tested as never before, we’ve had one arm tied behind our back versus our competitors, and we’ve responded with stronger performance and an accelerating transformation. I’m more confident than ever that we’re on the right path to create a world class business for colleagues, customers, shareholders and society.”
