Where next for Dixons Carphone shares ahead of its results

Dixons Carphone annual results: When will they be released?  

Dixons Carphone will release full-year results on the morning of Wednesday June 30. This will cover the 12 months to the end of April.

What to expect from the Dixons Carphone results

Dixons Carphone has already revealed that like-for-like sales of electricals jumped 14% in the 51 weeks to April 24. The company has been able to capitalise on the increased demand for tech at home during the pandemic thanks to its strong online offering, with digital sales having grown by triple-digit figures, which helped cushion the sales lost from its stores having to be closed during lockdown and a severe drop in revenue and earnings from its mobile division.

The company said adjusted pretax profit should come in around £151.0 million, down from £166 million the year before. Importantly, that is after the £73.0 million of furlough money received from the UK government is repaid.

Analysts are expecting adjusted pretax profit to fall to £145.6 million. However, they are also expecting the company to report a reported pretax profit at the bottom-line of around £109.1 million compared to the £140.0 million loss booked the year before.

The company reacted swiftly to the radical overnight change that lockdowns introduced. It managed to capitalise on the shift online, with online sales of electricals more than doubling to over £4.5 billion – over 40% of its anticipated revenue this year. It closed its Carphone Warehouse stores and shifted its mobile operations into its Curry PC World stores and shut its Dixons Travel shops that became unsustainable as international travel ground to a halt. Still, it signalled its commitment to an omni-channel offering by creating ShopLive, an online video shopping service that helps staff provide face-to-face advice and assistance for customers looking to buy online or in-store.

Investors will want to see how this is progressing. Notably, Carphone Warehouse has said it will bring all its lines under one brand by changing its name to Currys PLC by this October.

Dixons Carphone has proven resilient during the pandemic, but the company admitted at its interim results that it was ‘still nowhere near our full potential’. This places the spotlight on its outlook and how quickly it can return to -pre-pandemic levels of growth now that stores are back open and things are starting to normalise. One threat to this could be a potential drop-off in consumer spending on tech after splashing out on devices over the last year.

Investors will also be closely watching for news on the dividend after payouts were suspended to preserve cash when the pandemic erupted. Dixons Carphone decided against reinstating dividends at its interim results when it ended October with £269 million in net cash. The fact it is expecting to end April with around £150 million in net cash suggests shareholders may have to wait for payouts to be reinstated, especially whilst the restructuring is ongoing. It is expecting to book around £130 million in exceptional costs over the year to account for closing down stores.

Where next for the Dixons Carphone share price?

The share price had been trending higher since early August, hitting resistance at 160p in late April. Since then the share price has formed a series of lower highs and lower lows falling below the trendline resistance for the first time and hitting a low of 120p last week the 200 day ma. 

Any move lower would need to break below the 200 sma at 120p in order for the sellers to target 105p a level which has offered both support and resistance at several points across the past six months. 

Meanwhile, the MACD shows a receding bearish bias which is keeping the buyers hopeful. Any recovery would need to move back over the multi-month ascending trendline at 130p and the 50 sma at 135p to negate the near-term downtrend. A break above here could bring 145p back into target. 

How to trade Dixons Carphone shares  

You can trade Dixons Carphone shares with City Index by following these four easy steps:

1. Open a City Index account, or log-in if you’re already a customer.
2. Search for ‘Dixons Carphone’ in our award-winning platform
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Place the trade