Carphone Warehouse 2016 Annual Report Download - page 6

Chairman’s Statement
4
It has been a very good year for Dixons
Carphone and I am delighted that we
have been able to achieve a strong
financial performance at the same time
as making excellent operational progress
across the Group. The Board is therefore
pleased to recommend a final dividend
of 6.50p per share to be paid on
23 September 2016.
Over the past year we have largely completed the process
of integration and it has been a source of real pleasure for me
to see the progress we have made so powerfully validating
our reasons for bringing the businesses together. We have
increased sales and gained market share in just about every
category, business and territory as well as reducing costs as
a result of the Merger. I am also particularly proud that our
customer satisfaction is at a record high across the board.
Moreover, we have made important strategic decisions since
our merger, developing our proposition and discovering new
opportunities. Our strategy of creating exciting new 3-in-1
stores with all our brands under one roof is being rolled out at
pace across the UK & Ireland and I have been impressed by
the positive reaction from both colleagues and customers.
Complementary acquisitions have supported areas where
we see a real opportunity to develop the business. Multi-play
is a key area of focus and our acquisition of Simplifydigital –
the UK’s leading broadband, TV and home phone switching
business – helps us offer customers a fully-developed
multi-play proposition at a time when customers are looking
for independent advice across all their technology,
connectivity, media content and service needs. Similarly, our
acquisition of InfoCare in Norway makes us, at a stroke, the
leading repair operation in the Nordics.
Our Connected World Services business looks more and more
exciting with a very strong pipeline of global clients who are
interested in using the software and intellectual property
predominantly built up over 25 years in our mobile business
to improve their own. Our Sprint joint venture has had a very
good start and we are now well into the second phase,
with three to four new stores opening every week in key
US locations.
The telecommunications markets are undergoing a period
of immense change and it is exciting to be serving customers
in these turbulent times. We have already seen some
consolidation in our markets and the press is rife with
speculation about the future structure of the UK telco market.
Against this backdrop, and following the result of the
referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, I remind the
team every day: we are successful because we add value both
to our customers – by being the one place where people can
get choice and impartial advice – and to our network partners,
by telling their stories powerfully. While we continue to do
these things, I have no doubt that we will continue to win, no
matter how our market shifts in the background.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to
Roger Taylor and John Gildersleeve. Roger and John stepped
down from the Board at the end of 2015 having made very
significant contributions to the Group over many years and I
would like to thank them most sincerely. I am also pleased to
welcome two highly experienced and talented new members in
Lord Livingston and Tony DeNunzio.
Last, and by no means least, on behalf of the Board and our
shareholders, I would like to thank each and every one of my
colleagues at Dixons Carphone. It goes without saying that
we would not have delivered this extraordinary year without
you, and our future is all the brighter for your hard work
and dedication.
Sir Charles Dunstone
Chairman
28 June 2016
Strategic Report
Dixons Carphone plc Annual Report and Accounts 2015/16
00_DC 2016 Annual Report.pdf 4 11/07/2016 18:34