Justin King's departure from J Sainsbury and Mulberry's profit warning may be the big retail stories of the day, but Carphone Warehouse is also in the spotlight.
The company, which set up and later disolved a partnership with US group Best Buy, has agreed a joint venture with Samsung Electronics. Under the terms of the deal, it will operate more than 6- Samsung standalone stores in seven European markets, including the UK, Ireland and Germany. The stores will be rolled out over the next three months. The news has lifted Carphone's shares by 21.6p or 8% to 290.8p. Analyst Nick Bubb said:
To rub salt in any wounds at Dixons, Carphone Warehouse has announced that it is getting into bed with the rising star of the consumer electronics manufacturing world, Samsung, to operate a chain of up to 60 stand-alone Samsung stores in Europe (like the one in Westfield Stratford, presumably). The gushing statement from Carphone about how honoured it is to be chosen by Samsung etc etc is reminiscent of their enthusiasm for the potential for Best Buy "big box" stores a few years ago...
