UK-based omnichannel consumer electronics retailer Currys has reported a modest 1% increase in total revenue for the first half (H1) of the fiscal year 2024/25 (FY24/25), amounting to £3.91bn ($4.98bn) compared to £3.86bn in the same period a year previously.
The growth is attributed to like-for-like (LFL) revenue, which saw a 2% rise over the period.
In the UK and Ireland (UK&I) segment, revenue surged by 6% to £2.34bn. However, revenue from the Nordics experienced a 5% decline, falling to £1.57bn.
The company's loss before tax on continuing operations improved significantly, decreasing to £10m from £44m loss in H1 of the previous fiscal year.
Currys' earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) on continuing operations stood at £29m, a substantial increase from £6m in the same period one year earlier, with an EBIT margin of 0.7% compared to 0.2% previously.
The group's adjusted EBIT rose by an impressive 52% year-on-year.
In the UK and Ireland, adjusted EBIT soared by 53%. Despite a slight 1.4% decline in the core technology market, Currys managed to maintain its market share with a marginal growth of 20 basis points year-on-year.
The Nordics region saw a 50% increase in adjusted EBIT to £18m despite challenging consumer demand conditions.
Group chief executive Alex Baldock said: “We’re very encouraged by our progress. Currys’ performance continues to strengthen, with profits and cash flow growing significantly, and the group’s balance sheet is strong.
“In the UK&I, we made big improvements to both online and stores channels, customers continued to take more of the solutions and services that are valuable to them and to us, and such growth drivers as B2B and iD Mobile performed well. All this showed in growing sales, market share, gross margins and profits. In the Nordics, we gained market share, increased gross margins, tightly controlled costs and grew profits in a still-tough consumer environment.”
Trading remained consistent with board expectations in the first six weeks of the second half of the fiscal year The group anticipates profit growth and free cash flow for the entire year despite the UK government budget measures affecting the last five weeks of the financial year.
“Looking ahead, we’re confident of continuing our progress, and expect to grow profits and cashflow as promised this year. This is despite new and unwelcome headwinds from UK government policy. These will add cost quickly and materially, depress investment and hiring, boost automation and offshoring, and make some price rises inevitable,” Alex Baldock added.
