Britain’s Carphone Warehouse has confirmed that it plans to split its retail and telecommunications business, creating two separate, fully-listed companies. The company has claimed that the move will allow it to increase value for shareholders. ‘We believe that a demerger will allow us to create two discrete businesses with distinct investment profiles and improved comparability with sector peers,’ the company remarked in a statement. No official date for the split has been announced. Shareholders in the company will now be asked for feedback on the proposals.
Carphone Warehouse also announced that it expects to meet forecasts on full-year profits, but did state that it expects earnings per share to be flat. It also revealed that it had added 74,000 broadband subscribers in the three months to end-March 2009, but said that revenues from its TalkTalk subsidiary are likely to remain flat.