Carphone tills ring
Carphone Warehouse, the independent mobile phone company run by Charles Dunstone, said it was likely to ring up 35 per cent more profits in the first half of the year.
The company also confirmed that as part of its expansion plans it would look at Onetel, the communications group being sold by Centrica.
Carphone Warehouse appears to be bucking the trend on the British high street, opening 50 stores in the second quarter.
Overall, performance in the first six months was ahead of expectations, said Dunstone, as the group delivered a second quarter trading update.
It saw the number of customers connecting to its service rise by 15 per cent to 1.78m. Subscription connections, aided by an array of handsets, were boosted by more than 20 per cent to 830,000. Dunstone said: “We have enjoyed another excellent quarter of growth. Our customer bases all made good progress.”
Carphone Warehouse added 69,000 customers to its TalkTalk landline arm. TalkTalk was sponsor of last year’s Big Brother television show, and has smashed through the 1m barrier since launching last May. However, it has been criticised for its salesmen’s techniques.
The company sees no let up in the rate at which it can add to the base, saying it can match the number of new customers during the rest of the year.
The group has appointed a former director of government relations from 10 Downing Street as a non executive director.
Baroness Morgan, a minister for Women and Equalities in 2001, is joining next month.