Shares in mobile phone and electrical goods retailer Dixons Carphone PLC (LSE: DC) remained largely unmoved today after the company reported a roller-coaster Christmas trading period.
The owner of Carphone Warehouse and Currys / PC World reported 7% like-for-like sales growth over the nine-week period. CEO Sebastian James credited the companys strong availability, pricing, service and marketing efforts as key to driving market share across all their key territories.
Customers responded well to the companys first ever Black Friday offering, although Mr James admitted that the promotion impacted the three weeks that followed, implying sales tailed off after the discount bonanza.
The US tradition has hit the UK high-street with a vengeancethis year, and Mr James believes it is here to stay. On BBCs Today Programme, he said: Were going to see it next year and its going to keep going forever.
A successful Boxing Day sale saw demand pick up again, however, completing the erratic trading period.
Margins remained stable through the period, dispelling concerns that mega-discounting on Black Friday could dent profitability.
Following the busy period, management were confident enough to predict that profit before tax would be above market expectations and fall in the range of 355m and 375m.
Using the low end of managements forecast, Dixons Carphone trades on a PE of 17 times, and it only pays a 1.36% dividend yield. For a business in such competitive fields, this seems demanding to me. Id much prefer to own companies with durable competitive advantage that differentiate them from competition and allow them to flourish.
Our team of top analysts have put together a report containing five quality companies, each with a serious competitive advantage that we believe could help boost your retirement portfolio returns for years to come.
One even yields a market-beating 5.4%.
Click here for your copy of 5 Shares To Retire On.It is completely free and comes with no further obligation.
Get FREE Issues of The Motley Fool Collective
Get straightforward advice on whats really happening with the stock markets, direct to your inbox. Help yourself with our FREE email newsletter designed to help you protect and grow your portfolio wealth.
By providing your email address, you consent to receiving further information on our goods and services and those of our business partners. To opt-out of receiving this information click here. All information provided is governed by our Privacy Statement.
Zach Coffell has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.