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Curry’s PLC shares rose on Thursday despite a ‘tough’ festive period, after the group said it expects to deliver profit ahead of market expectations.
Shares in Currys were up 8.3% at 49.22 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
The London-based consumer electronics retailer reported ‘robust profits’ in the UK and Ireland, with strong growth across all services in the 10-week run-up to January 6. Credit adoption of 21% increased 2.4% from 2022, with 2.2 million active credit customers. The company’s iD Mobile subsidiary also grew to 1.6 million customers, up 29% from the same time last year. Peak like-for-like revenue was down 3% for the region, however, with strong mobile sales offset by a downturn in TV and computing.
Peak like-for-like revenue was down 2% in the Nordics, despite ‘improving sales trends’ compared to the first half of the year. While sales increased in Norway, the company said this was offset by a drop in Finland. As with the UK, weaker TV sales cancelled out strong domestic appliance revenue.
Guidance for the financial year ending April 29 forecasts between £105 million and £115 million in adjusted pretax profit, ahead of consensus expectations of £104 million. The middle of the forecast would represent a roughly 8% drop from the £119 million adjusted pretax profit recorded for the 2023 financial year.
The group also altered its capital expenditure guidance to around £70 million from £80 million. Net exceptional cash costs and net debt guidance remain unchanged at £50 million and £97 million, respectively.
The company said that it expects to complete the disposal of Kotsovolos before the end of the financial year in April. In November, Currys entered an agreement for the sale of Dixons South East Europe AEVE, the holding company of Currys’ entire Greek and Cypriot retail business, trading as Kotsovolos, to Public Power Corp SA.
Currys expects to receive around £156 million on completion of the sale, and said it intends to use the proceeds to reduce debt. Currys said that its guidance has not been revised to reflect anticipated returns from the disposal.
Chief Executive Officer Alex Baldock said: ‘We’ve had a successful peak trading period, for customers who are more satisfied than ever, and for profits and cashflow. Our markets may be no easier, but we now expect full-year profits to be above consensus expectations.
‘In the UK and Ireland, we’ve kept up our encouraging momentum, in particular selling more of the Services that boost margins and build customers for life. We’re also getting the Nordics back on track, after a disciplined Peak on margins and costs. In all markets, we’ve taken big strides in customer satisfaction, through the hard work and expertise of our more engaged colleagues.’
‘As consumer confidence improves, we’ll be well placed to build on these strong foundations, to benefit shareholders as well as colleagues and customers,’ Baldock added.
Curry’s provided no revenue figures alongside the percentage changes for the 10-week trading period.
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