Currys results show “strongest balance sheet in a decade”

The £162m figure was ahead of analyst estimates of £159m and in line with a figure shared with Retail Week in an interview with group chief executive Alex Baldock last month. 

This has led to a year end net cash level of £184m, which the company said was its “strongest balance sheet in over a decade”. 

Group revenue increased like-for-like by 2% to stand at £8.7bn, with that increase driven mostly by its UK & Ireland business where the sales increase was 4%. 

Currys cited a “resilient” UK consumer environment, with cost inflation softening and lower interest rates. Business in its Nordics market was slower, with sales remaining flat year on year. 

“Currys’ performance continues to strengthen and the business has real momentum. A stronger Currys is good for colleagues, customers, shareholders and society, and we’re doing a better job for all of them,” said Baldock in a statement published along with the results.

Despite anticipating several headwinds including Budget-related cost increases, as well as a weak Norwegian Kroner, it says at this stage it is comfortable with market expectations for profit in the current year. The company says it is pursuing cost saving measures to counteract the headwinds.

Baldock told Retail Week in June that Currys started the new financial year at “minus £32m” due to the added costs form the autumn Budget. 

The retailer announced 80 head-office redundancies in May in an effort to cut central costs in the UK by 10%. 

Baldock says that numerous growth levers exist for the coming year. These include the deprecation of Windows 10 potentially forcing consumers to refresh their computing set-up and the growth in consumer use-cases of AI. 

Currys also is considering expansion of its health and beauty categories and moving into new segments like “pet tech”. The company is also aiming to double its UK and Ireland B2B sales over the next three years.