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Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of
Dixons Retail Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World (with stores increasingly dual branded 'Currys PC World'), Dixons Travel and its ...
and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
, and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...
. The company operates under a number of brands in the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe. These include Currys in the United Kingdom, Dixons Travel in airports in the United Kingdom and
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
; Currys in the Republic of Ireland; Elkjøp in Norway; Elgiganten/Gigantti in the other Nordic countries; and Kotsovolos in Greece.


History

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. Carphone Warehouse's Sir Charles Dunstone was appointed chairman, and Sebastian James became Chief Executive. On the first day of trading, the company opened
Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent C ...
concessions in seven
PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...
or Currys stores. In December 2016, Dixons and SSE, a domestic energy supplier, announced a partnership to provide "connected home" services in the United Kingdom. In January 2018, Sebastian James resigned as Chief Executive to become president and managing director of
Boots UK Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand a ...
.
Alex Baldock Alexander David Baldock (born 21 November 1970) is a British businessman, former banker, and the chief executive (CEO) of Currys plc (formerly Dixons Carphone). Early life Alexander David Baldock was born in November 1970. He was educated at Ound ...
left his previous role as Chief Executive of Shop Direct (the company responsible for brands such as
Very Very may refer to: * English's prevailing intensifier Businesses * The Very Group, a British retail/consumer finance corporation ** Very (online retailer), their main e-commerce brand * VERY TV, a Thai television channel Places * Véry, a co ...
and Littlewoods) to succeed James as Chief Executive of Dixons Carphone. In March 2019, Dixons Carphone was given a £29.1m fine from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for misselling its service of Geek Squad. The FCA found that the company's staff were trained to sell the service to customers who already had an insurance cover. During the period under investigation, between 1 December 2008 and 30 June 2015, Carphone Warehouse sold Geek Squad policies worth more than £444.7m. Dixons Carphone did not contest the FCA's findings and qualified for a 30% discount, reducing the fine from £41.6m. 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. 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. Carphone Warehouse shops continue providing telephone services. Following the spread of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, on 4 August 2020, Dixons Carphone announced additional 800 job cuts in order to reduce the costs caused by the pandemic. The company also announced its plans to re-organise its operations in their 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." 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.


Operations

The company owns the following brands:


United Kingdom and Ireland

* Currys – specialises in home
electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
, household appliances and computing * iD Mobile – a
mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile ...


Northern Europe

* Elkjøp – ("Electrical Buy") sells home
electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and household appliances in Norway


South Eastern Europe

* Kotsovolos – sells home electronics and household appliances in Greece and Cyprus


Former brands and operations

*
PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...
– a retail chain of mass market computer megastores. * Dixons Travel - a retailer operating in airports *
Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent C ...
– a mobile phone retailer that operated through standalone stores. The standalone stores closed in March 2020.


Former operational brands

* Team Knowhow (2017 - 2021) – The operational services brand for the Dixons Carphone. * Knowhow (2010 - 2017) - The operational services brand for Currys and PC World stores. * Tech Guys (2006 - 2010) - An operational services brand for Currys and PC World stores. * Geek Squad UK (2006 - 2017) - A provider of aftersales and insurance for
Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent C ...
.


Leadership

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. The CEO of Currys plc is
Alex Baldock Alexander David Baldock (born 21 November 1970) is a British businessman, former banker, and the chief executive (CEO) of Currys plc (formerly Dixons Carphone). Early life Alexander David Baldock was born in November 1970. He was educated at Ound ...
, appointed in 2018. The CFO of the business is Bruce Marsh, appointed in July 2021.


Data security breaches

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. A further security breach, said to affect 1.2 million customers, was reported by the company in June 2018. The number of customers affected was later increased to 10 million.


References

{{Authority control 2014 establishments in England British companies established in 2014 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom Electronics companies established in 2014 Manufacturing companies based in London Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom Mobile phone manufacturers Multinational companies Multinational companies headquartered in the United Kingdom Online retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 2014 Technology companies based in London Telecommunications companies established in 2014