Handset price woes dent Dixons’ profit

L Unscheduled trading update also reveals steady sales growth elsewhere

Retail sector expert Nick Bubb said: “The Dixons Carphone share price has been drooping even lower in recent days, as if something was possiblyamiss,soit’sgoodthatthe company has cleared the air today. But the profit warning will go down like a lead balloon in the City.”

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, noted: “Another day, another profit warning. This time it’s Dixons Carphone’s turn to take a tumble, with headline profit before tax expected to be 20 per cent below previous market expectations.

“The electricals and phone retailer has been hit by a whole cocktail of bad news. Currency movements will have made new phones more expensive, but since the same should be true in the electronics business, which is faring well, we suspect the lack of significant innovation in recent models is a bigger problem.

“Unfortunately that’s not something Carphone Warehouse can do a great deal about.”

He added: “The forthcoming generation of Samsung Galaxy and iphone handsets claim to make big steps forward, but recent history hasn’t delivered much that’s revolutionary. Seb James will be hoping Tim Cook has something big up his sleeve.”