Dixons Carphone positive over Black Friday performance

Dixons Carphone hailed a “barnstorming” performance at its UK and Irish stores thanks to Black Friday, but this week the newly merged electrical goods and phone retailer will reveal how that affected its overall Christmas sales.

Shares in Dixons Carphone have fallen nearly 7% after Game Digital issued a profits warning late on Tuesday and Argos’s parent company Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales were flat in the 18 weeks to 3 January against expectations of a 2% rise.

Argos, John Lewis and Game Digital have all said that sales of electrical goods slumped after surging on the late November discount day and that their profit margins took a hit as a result. Still, analysts expect Dixons Carphone to deliver a 5% rise in sales at established stores in the nine weeks to 3 January and a 3% rise in northern Europe as it aims to secure annual profits of £354m in the year to April.

This week will also see sales updates from Poundland, Halfords and WH Smith as this year’s wave of retailer Christmas sales announcements begins to subside.

Discount stores are widely expected to have enjoyed a strong festive season and analysts at Shore Capital predict Poundland will reveal a 12.5% rise in total sales, equivalent to about 4% when the impact of new store openings and closures is taken into account.