Dixons sales ride out Brexit to outstrip City forecasts

● Electricals and mobile phones retailer sales up 4% ● Latest in string of groups to brush off EU referendum

Dixons Carphone outstripped forecasts for first-quarter sales yesterday as the UK’S biggest electricals and mobile phone retailer became the latest in a flurry of companies to say shoppers are unfazed by the Brexit vote.

The business, which trades as Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse, said trading had been “really strong” in its first trading quarter to endjuly, which included the UK’S European Union referendum vote on 23 June.

Dixons Carphone boss Seb James unveiled a 4 per cent hike in same-floorspace sales in the quarter. “We continue to see no detectable impact of the Brexit vote on consumer behaviour in the UK.”

Shares in the company had shed 12 per cent in the past three months amid stock market concerns about its exposure to so-called “big-ticket” (expensive) goods and therefore any consumer nervousness about economic prospects after the EU referendum outcome.

But the shares jumped 4 per cent to 389p yesterday as the trading numbers largely put that fear to bed. Analysts’ consensus forecast for likefor-like sales at Dixons Carphone was 2.5 per cent, but this was beaten by strong sales of mobiles, TVS and domestic appliances like cookers and vacuum cleaners, the company said.

It follows retailers such as department store group John Lewis, DIY firm Kingfisher and fashion chain Next reporting that they had not noted any change in consumer sentiment and footfall following the Brexit vote.

Data has similarly suggested Britain’s broader economy has not suffered the devastation that some Remain supporters forecast in the run-up to the referendum, with stronger figures from services and employment and a slowdown in the pace of contraction in construction.

“Dixons Carphone’s robust revenue growth is impressive, all the more so given macroeconomic headwinds in its core UK, Nordic and southern European markets,” George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

Alistair Davies, at Investec, said it was a “good start to the year, with first-quarter trading stronger than expected as the business continues to take market share in all regions”.

Dixons Carphone is shutting 134 stores under plans to roll out electrical superstores merging its three main brands across the UK and Ireland.

It announced the plans in January, but said it would relocate all staff impacted to nearby superstores.