New JV firm will be called ‘Dixons Carphone’ – and will produce company savings of £80 million a year by 2017
Carphone Warehouse and Dixons have a agreed a £3.8 nillion merger that will create a firm with 3,000 high street stores and annual sales of almost £12 billion.
The new company will be called Dixons Carphone, and will bring Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World under one roof. Mobile News contacted Phones 4u regarding the future of its concession stores in Currys/PC World stores. The agreement was announced in July 2010, with Phones 4u expected to release a statement on this shortly.
Carphone claimed the merged entity will create a leader in European consumer electricals, mobiles, connectivity and related services, as well as offering combined cost savings of at least £80 million on a recurring basis.
These are expected to be realised in the financial year 2017/18. The Boards of both companies expect Dixons Carphone to deliver these synergies progressively, achieving almost half of them in financial year 2015/16.
They said they would cut around two per cent of their combined workforce to reduce costs but that they would add four per cent to exploit growth opportunities, resulting in a net increase of two per cent in employee numbers.
Leadership team
Sir Charles Dunstone, Chairman of Carphone, will become the Chairman of Dixons Carphone. Roger Taylor, Deputy Chairman of Carphone, and John Allan, Chairman of Dixons will become Co-Deputy Chairmen and John Allan will also become Senior Independent Director; Sebastian James, CEO of Dixons, will become CEO; Andrew Harrison, CEO of Carphone, will become Deputy CEO.
Humphrey Singer, CFO of Dixons, will become CFO; Katie Bickerstaffe, CEO of UK & Ireland Dixons, and Graham Stapleton, CEO of UK & Ireland Carphone, will join the Dixons Carphone Board as Executive Directors and retain their current responsibilities.
In addition, the Dixons Carphone Board will comprise six other non executive directors. John Gildersleeve, Baroness Morgan of Huyton and Gerry Murphy will be the non executive directors appointed from Carphone. Tim How, Jock Lennox and Andrea Gisle Joosen will be the non executive directors appointed from Dixons.
The merger will be conditional on, amongst other things, the approval of Carphone shareholders and Dixons shareholders, the sanction of the Scheme by the Court and relevant anti-trust clearances being received.
Carphone Warehouse chairman Sir Charles Dunstone said: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity today’s news brings to our organisations, our consumers and our investors. Both Carphone and Dixons have a huge commitment to delivering the consumer the very best service, product and advice around the connected world.
“We have a deep respect for each other and we see the merger of these two great companies as an opportunity to bring our skills together for the consumer and create a new retailer for the digital age. We are also creating jobs and we see many opportunities for further growth. This is a new chapter for both businesses and we are energised and proud to be part of what will be another fantastic journey for consumers and shareholders.”
