The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)

Electrical­s retailer set for profits fall

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Dixons Carphone is expected to report a sharp fall in profits next week as the retailer continues to reel from a mammoth data breach that saw millions of customer details hacked in a cyber attack.

The electrical­s chain is forecast to report a 23% decline in headline full-year pre-tax profits to £382 million, according to a consensus of City analysts.

HSBC’s Andrew Porteous said the figures have been dragged down by the poor performanc­e of the company’s mobile phone division, as well as investment.

The results will come after a bruising period for the retailer.

Dixons Carphone shares tumbled last month as the company warned that profits would continue to fall, and then it recently came clean over a cyber attack.

George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “These results come less than a month after a jarring profit warning saw the shares drop 21%, giving up the gains made earlier in the year, and a data breach.”

The cyber attack saw 5.9 million customer bank card details and 1.2 million personal data records hacked.

The retailer behind Currys PC World said while 5.8 million of the payment cards targeted were protected by chip and pin, around 105,000 non-EU cards without chip-and-pin protection were compromise­d.

It piles further pressure on new CEO Alex Baldock, who replaced the long-standing Seb James earlier this year.

He is grappling with challenges in the troubled mobile phone unit and has already pledged to shut nearly 100 Carphone Warehouse stores this year.

Hard-pressed consumers are holding on to older devices for longer and going sim-only.

 ??  ?? Dixons Carphone own Currys PC World.
Dixons Carphone own Currys PC World.

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