Britain's Dixons Carphone posts 34% profit jump as online sales help

LONDON (Reuters) - Dixons Carphone posted a 34% rise in annual profit on Wednesday and said it would resume paying dividends after strong online sales helped the British electricals retailer offset store closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group, which trades as Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK, reported an adjusted pretax profit of 156 million pounds ($216 million) for the year to May 1.

That topped its guidance of 151 million pounds and the 116 million it earned in 2019-20 and came after it repaid government staff furlough support of 73 million pounds.

The group proposed a full year dividend of 3.0 pence.

Dixons Carphone has benefited from people working from home and buying equipment for their houses online.

Revenue rose 2% to 10.3 billion pounds, with like-for-like sales of electricals up 14% despite stores in the UK, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Greece being shut for substantial periods.

Electricals online sales more than doubled to 4.7 billion pounds.

"Technology has become even more central to people’s lives. As the market leader, with the winning omnichannel business model, we can make the most of that," CEO Alex Baldock said.

The group, which plans to change its name to Currys in September, said it had seen continued strong trading in the new 2021-22 financial year.

"We continue to see evidence that our markets will be structurally larger post-pandemic, it said.

($1 = 0.7223 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Alistair Smout and Jason Neely)