Yahoo Finance Boost for Dixons Carphone with Vodafone deal
Vodafone has thrown a lifeline to Dixons Carphone by agreeing an exclusive deal to sell its mobile plans across its 300 stores.
The two companies will also collaborate on a new mobile offer being launched by Dixons Carphone later this year.
The agreement will provide a fillip for the FTSE 250 retailer, which was rocked last year by EE and O2's decision to sever their contracts.
Tensions between the mobile operators and Dixons Carphone intensified three years ago when the retailer's chief executive Alex Baldock pushed to renegotiate “unsustainable” contracts.
Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World were being hit with financial penalties because they could no longer reach sales targets agreed with operators when selling mobile phones.
Dixons Carphone previously earned a commission for each customer it signed up to a mobile network, but the new deal will be based on a share of the margins.
Vodafone said Dixons Carphone had made "significant overall progress with its mobile transformation".
Max Taylor, Vodafone's consumer director, said: "This is a completely new and exclusive arrangement, which will drive customer experience improvements and value growth for both parties."
A disclosure in BT's annual report revealed that its EE arm took a £149m hit after deciding to end its agreement with Carphone Warehouse.
BT decided to hang up on the deal in September following months of "challenging discussions and negotiations" in order to focus on selling EE services online or through its 575 stores.
Carphone Warehouse had been a waning force in EE’s distribution in recent years, dropping more than 50pc to account for less than 15pc of new customers and upgrades.
Dixons Carphone shut 531 Carphone Warehouse stores in 2020 as it shifted towards selling mobile phones online and through its 305 Currys PC World stores.
The brand, which was founded by Sir Charles Dunstone and Julian Brownlie in 1989, is set to disappear from the high street after Dixons Carphone said it would change the name of all of its shops to Currys.
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