Britain's Dixons to close 531 standalone Carphone Warehouse stores

[LONDON] British electricals retailer Dixons Carphone will close all 531 UK standalone Carphone Warehouse stores as part of a plan to turn around its mobile business, it said on Tuesday.

The stores, representing 8 per cent of Dixons Carphone's total UK selling space, will shut on April 3. The closures will mean 2,900 redundancies with a further 1,800 workers expected to take new roles internally.

Dixons Carphone will continue to sell mobile phones through Carphone Warehouse shop-in-shops in 305 big Currys PCWorld stores and online.

The group also said it has not yet seen a material impact from the coronavirus outbreak, though it is preparing for one.

It said it is currently on track to meet its full-year 2019-20 adjusted pretax profit guidance of £210 million (S$364.6 million) despite the headwind to profit from Dixons Travel and currency translation as well as for net debt to be lower year-on-year.

"But we are aware the situation may change over the final weeks of the financial year," it cautioned. 

REUTERS