Carphone Warehouse reported a 69 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit this morning and said it looked forward to a strong Christmas holiday sales season.
Europe's largest independent mobile phone retailer also announced plans to create 1,000 jobs in its home market with the opening of its 500th British stores and a call centre in Warrington, outside Liverpool.
Pre-tax profit before exceptional items and goodwill amortisation rose to £20.3 million sterling ($34 million), compared with analyst forecasts of between £18 million and £19 million. Like-for-like revenue climbed 15.5 per cent in the 26 weeks to September 27th.
Carphone said mobile connections rose 16.4 per cent to £2.24 million in the first half. Subscription connections, which give Carphone a share of revenue in most cases, rose 20.8 per cent.
The company will pay an interim dividend of 0.4 pence per share, or one third of the anticipated full-year pay-out.