UPDATE: Carphone Warehouse Demerger On Track; Repeats Fiscal Year View
08 Octobre 2009 - 9:12AM
Dow Jones News
U.K. mobile retailer and broadband provider Carphone Warehouse
PLC (CPW.LN) Thursday said it is increasingly confident of
completing a demerger by March 2010, as it reiterated full year
guidance and reported better-than-expected performance in both of
its businesses.
In the last two years the group has reshaped its business,
spinning off its mobile phone retail offering into a joint venture
with Best Buy Co. Inc (BBY) and building a fixed line broadband
business, TalkTalk, from scratch into the largest residential
broadband provider in the U.K. following its recent acquisition of
Tiscali U.K.
The company is preparing to demerge Best Buy Europe from
TalkTalk and said Thursday it is increasingly confident of
completion by the end of March 2010.
Carphone also reiterated its full year guidance for 10% growth
in headline earnings per share, excluding one-off items and some
amortization associated with its acquisitions, and GBP150 million
of free cash flow.
TalkTalk added 77,000 new broadband customers in the second
quarter, excluding its recent acquisition of Tiscali U.K., well
ahead of the company's consensus forecast for 41,000 net new
additions.
Still, the company lost 62,000 Tiscali customers in the same
period, in line with its expectations, and said after completing
the acquisition it found that Tiscali had 160,000 fewer customers
than previously indicated.
But this won't hurt the company's goal of hitting between 4.1
million and 4.2 million broadband customers by the year-end, and it
will receive an undisclosed payment for the lower subscriber
base.
Carphone is targeting synergies of between GBP40 million and
GBP50 million from the Tiscali acquisition, which brought an
additional 1.3 million broadband customers to the business after
accounting for the 160,000 shortfall.
Meanwhile, Best Buy Europe grew total connections by 2.0% in the
period against a tough comparative last year when sales were helped
by the launch of Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) 3G iPhone.
Best Buy Europe now has a total of 3.17 million connections,
ahead of company consensus forecasts for 3.11 million
subscribers.
The joint venture with Best Buy includes Carphone’s existing
network of mobile and electronics stores across Europe with a plan
to roll out large-format consumer electronics stores, first in the
U.K. and then across the continent, targeting 100 stores across
Europe by 2013.
The company said Thursday that the rollout of its Big Box
out-of-town stores is on track to launch in the U.K. in the spring
"and we are making strong progress on finalizing further store
openings next year."
Best Buy Europe also includes a U.S. venture Best Buy Mobile,
which operates mobile stores within Best Buy's electronics shops,
and Carphone said it remains confident this business will provide a
significant contribution in the current financial year.
Carphone shares closed Wednesday at 205p.
-By Kathy Sandler, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9293;
kathy.sandler@dowjones.com