The Carphone Warehouse reported yet another good set of figures in its Q4 trading update. It’s expecting to report profits in line with expectations, “despite significant investment in new business areas” – notably the launch of free broadband from TalkTalk and the stake in Virgin Mobile France, which together cost £12m (and are expected to generate a one-off operating loss in 2007 of £60m).
In the quarter CPW added 32.8% more connections, taking its total to 2.23m; another 66 new stores opened, bringing the year-end total to 1,778 – and for next year the company is planning to add a further 250 stores with the aim of delivering a 15% rise in connections.