It is not easy to discern the benefits of the merger between Carphone Warehouse and Dixons in the halfway figures from the group, but they are here. The picture is distorted by a number of one-offs, while the majority of those benefits, in terms of the bottom line, still have a way to come through.
The merger finalised in August last year, so the company is still paying rent on properties vacated, while the Dixons HQ in Hemel Hempstead closed only last month. The picture is clouded, though, by the collapse of Phones4u in September last year. This had 160 concessions within branches of Currys, so the merged company could replace these with Carphone outlets.
So far, there are 270 of these in all, against