Dixons Carphone posts profits plunge in wake of major cyber attack

Retailer Dixons Carphone has posted a slump in annual profits, a week after coming clean about a major cyber attack.

The group announced underlying pre-tax profits had fallen by 24% to £382 million for the year to April 28, and warned that cost pressures would hit profits once again in the year ahead.

Sales rose 4% on a like-for-like basis, with total revenue coming in at £10.5 billion. In the UK, sales were down by 1%.

Alex Baldock, the new chief executive of Dixons, said the company had "plenty of work to do" in the wake of the attack, which saw 5.9 million customer bank card details and 1.2 million personal data records hacked.

The retailer behind Currys said that while 5.8 million of the payment cards targeted were protected by chip and Pin, around 105,000 non-EU cards without chip and Pin protection were compromised.

In its full-year results, the group confirmed it expects profits for 2018-19 to be £300 million, representing a fall of 22%.

The firm revealed plans to close nearly 100 stores last month and warned over the expected profits hit for the new financial year as it braces for a slowdown in the UK electricals market and cost increases from the national living wage and IT depreciation.

Mr Baldock said: "It's now a little over three weeks since our last trading statement, and just over two months since I joined.

"I'm delighted to be at Dixons Carphone, in a business with so many strengths, and with so much more to go for.

"Recent events have underlined that we have plenty of work to do, and it will take time, but I'm even more confident than the day I took the job in our long-term prospects."