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Currys plc

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the parent company formed as Dixons Carphone following the 2014 merger. For the retail chain it owns, see Currys.

Currys plc
Formerly
  • New Carphone Warehouse plc (2009–2010)
  • Carphone Warehouse Group Public Limited Company (2010–2014)
  • Dixons Carphone plc (2014–2021)[1]
Company typePublic limited company
LSE: CURY
FTSE 250 Component
IndustryConsumer electronics
Predecessor
Founded7 August 2014; 10 years ago (2014-08-07)
HeadquartersLambeth, London
Number of locations
830 stores (2023)[2]
Area served
Key people
RevenueDecrease £9,511 million (2023)[3]
Decrease £(346) million (2023)[3]
Decrease £(481) million (2023)[3]
Number of employees
28,000 (2024)[2]
SubsidiariesElkjøp Nordic AS

iD Mobile

Carphone Warehouse
Websitecurrysplc.com

Currys plc is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London,[4] which was formed in 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The company operates under a number of brands in the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe. These include Currys in the United Kingdom and Ireland and Elkjøp, Elgiganten Gigantti in the Nordics.

History

[edit]

Following shareholder agreement in July 2014, the £3.8 billion merged entity was launched on 7 August 2014; on the first day of trading the shares in the merged business were owned 50:50 by the former Dixons Retail and former Carphone Warehouse shareholders.[5][6] Carphone Warehouse's Sir Charles Dunstone was appointed chairman, and Sebastian James became chief executive.[7]

On the first day of trading, the company opened Carphone Warehouse concessions in seven PC World or Currys stores.[8] In December 2016, Dixons and SSE, a domestic energy supplier, announced a partnership to provide "connected home" services in the United Kingdom.[9]

In January 2018, Sebastian James resigned as chief executive to become president and managing director of Boots UK.[10] Alex Baldock left his previous role as chief executive of Shop Direct (the company responsible for brands such as Very and Littlewoods) to succeed James as chief executive of Dixons Carphone.[11]

In March 2019, Dixons Carphone was given a £29.1m fine from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for mis-selling its Geek Squad services. The FCA found that the company's staff were trained to sell the service to customers who already had an insurance cover.[12] During the period under investigation, between 1 December 2008 and 30 June 2015, Carphone Warehouse sold Geek Squad policies worth more than £444.7m.[13] Dixons Carphone did not contest the FCA's findings and qualified for a 30% discount, reducing the fine from £41.6m.[14]

In June 2019, shares in Dixons Carphone fell almost 20% following a significant decline in full year profits, mainly caused by consumers' growing delay in upgrading their mobile phones.[15]

On 3 April 2020, the company permanently closed 531 stand-alone Carphone Warehouse stores that were solely focused on telephone devices. Subsequently, 3,000 job positions related to the affected stores were cut. According to the firm, the reason behind the closure of the stores was the online shift of customers and a lesser extent of phone upgrades.[16]

Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, on 4 August 2020, Dixons Carphone announced 800 job cuts in response to increased costs. The company also announced plans to re-organise its operations in its bigger stores. Regarding the decision, the firm's chief operating officer stated that they wanted "to empower store leadership teams, create a flatter management structure and make it easy for customers to shop with us."[17]

The business was renamed from Dixons Carphone to Currys plc in September 2021. The Currys brand also replaced the company's PC World, Team Knowhow and Carphone Warehouse brands.[18]

In June 2023, Frasers Group acquired a stake in Currys, which would increase during the year.[19]

In November 2023, Currys announced that they would be selling their Greek and Cypriot business, Kotsovolos, and would be leaving the South Eastern European market. Outside the UK and Ireland, the company would do business only in the Nordic countries.[20]

On 17 February 2024, Sky News reported that Elliott Investment Management was interested in buying Currys for £700M; Currys turned down the offer.[21][22] A leading shareholder in Currys demanded that the company's board not engage with potential suitor Elliott Advisors unless it proposed a minimum offer of 75p-a-share, valuing the retailer at around £800m, amid claims that a 62p-a-share offer from Elliott undervalued the company.[23]

Operations

[edit]

The company owns the following brands:[24][25]

United Kingdom and Ireland

[edit]

Nordics (Elkjøp Nordic)

[edit]
  • Elkjøp – ("Electrical Buy") sells home electronics and household appliances in Norway[27]
  • Elgiganten – ("Electrical Giant") sells home electronics and household appliances in Denmark and Sweden, franchised[27] by Pisiffik on Greenland[28]
  • Gigantti – ("Giant") sells home electronics and household appliances in Finland[27]
  • Elko – franchise[27] owned by Festi hf that uses the same brand markers, selling home electronics and household appliances in Iceland[29]
  • Elding Elrisin – Elgiganten franchise on the Faroe Islands[27]

Former brands

[edit]

Former retail brands

[edit]
Brand Description Founded Ceased
Dixons A high-street retailer of consumer electronics in the United Kingdom and Ireland 1937 2012
PC World A retail chain of mass-market computer megastores 1991 2021
Dixons Travel A technology retailer operating in airports 1994 2021

Former operational brands

[edit]
Brand Description Founded Ceased
Geek Squad UK A provider of aftersales and insurance for Carphone Warehouse 2006 2017
Tech Guys[30] An operational services brand for Currys and PC World stores 2006 2010
Knowhow[30] An operational services and aftersales brand for Currys and PC World stores as well as Elkjøp-brands in the Nordics 2010 2017 (UK)

2020 (Nordics)

Team Knowhow[31] An operational and aftersales services brand for Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse stores 2017 2021[24]

Leadership

[edit]

The company's board is chaired by Ian Livingston. The non-executive directors are Andrea Gisle Joosen, Eileen Burbidge, Fiona McBain, Gerry Murphy and Tony DeNunzio.[32] The CEO of Currys plc is Alex Baldock, appointed in 2018.[32] The CFO of the business is Bruce Marsh, appointed in July 2021.[32]

Data security breaches

[edit]

The group was fined £400,000 by the Information Commissioner in January 2018, as a result of unauthorised access to the personal data of over three million customers in 2015.[33] A further security breach, said to affect 1.2 million customers, was reported by the company in June 2018.[34] The number of customers affected was later increased to 10 million.[35]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Currys PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "At a glance". Currys plc. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Annual Results 2022/23" (PDF). Currys. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  4. ^ Dixons Carphone, Company Information Service, retrieved 28 February 2021
  5. ^ "Dixons and Carphone warehouse merge to exploit internet of things". Marketing Week. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Dixons and Carphone Warehouse shares drop on merger". BBC News. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  7. ^ Ruddick, Graham (15 May 2014). "Carphone Warehouse and Dixons agree £3.8bn merger". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Dixons Carphone unveils new stores". BBC News. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Dixons Carphone joins with energy supplier SSE for UK 'connected home' venture". Reuters. 14 December 2016. Archived from the original on 14 December 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  10. ^ Slawson, Nicola (20 January 2018). "Dixons Carphone CEO will step down to run chemist chain Boots". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  11. ^ Boland, Hannah (19 January 2018). "Dixons Carphone hires Shop Direct's Baldock to top role after chief executive quits for Boots". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  12. ^ Jahshan, Elias (13 March 2019). "Dixons Carphone slugged with £29m fine for mis-selling mobile insurance". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Geek Squad fine over insurance mis-selling". 13 March 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  14. ^ Chapman, Ben (13 March 2019). "Dixons Carphone fined £29m for pushing phone insurance customers didn't need". The Independent. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  15. ^ Kollewe, Julia (20 June 2019). "Dixons Carphone reveals big losses at mobile phone shops". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  16. ^ Provan, Sarah; Eley, Jonathan (17 March 2020). "Dixons Carphone Warehouse closes 530 UK stores with loss of 3,000 jobs". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  17. ^ Eley, Jonathan (4 August 2020). "Dixons Carphone to axe 800 jobs in revamp of operations". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  18. ^ Onita, Laura (13 May 2021). "Dixons, PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  19. ^ Sensi, Jasdip (13 July 2023). "Frasers Group increases stakes in N Brown and Currys". Internet Retailing. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  20. ^ Hill, Eloise (3 November 2023). "Currys to sell Greek and Cypriot business for £175m - Retail Gazette". www.retailgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Waterstones-owner Elliott plots £700m takeover bid for high street giant Currys". Sky News. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  22. ^ Goldfingle, Gemma (18 February 2024). "Currys rejects takeover bid from Waterstones owner Elliott - Retail Gazette". www.retailgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  23. ^ Kleinman, Mark (19 February 2024). "Top shareholder wants £800m for electricals retailer Currys". Sky News. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Our brands". Currys. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  25. ^ "What we do". Elkjøp Nordic. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  26. ^ "Carphone Warehouse to close all standalone stores at cost of 2,900 jobs". BBC News. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  27. ^ a b c d e "About us". Elkjøp Nordic. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  28. ^ "Elgigantenbrand Pisiffik.gl". Pisiffik (in Danish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  29. ^ "Um ELKO". ELKO (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  30. ^ a b "Dixons sets up new technical support service Knowhow". The Guardian. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Dixons Carphone expands services offering at Currys PC & Carphone Warehouse stores with roll out of Team Knowhow". Retail Gazette. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  32. ^ a b c "Board of Directors". www.currysplc.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  33. ^ "Carphone Warehouse fined £400,000 after serious failures placed customer and employee data at risk". ICO. Information Commissioner's Office. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  34. ^ "Investigation Into Unauthorised Data Access". Investis. RNS London Stock Exchange. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  35. ^ "Nine million more hit by Dixons data breach". BBC News: Business. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
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