What connects Carphone Warehouse founder Sir Charles Dunstone and film director Guy Ritchie? The obvious answer is that both have employed the same PR man (Matthew Freud), but we’ll give you a point for creative thinking if you answered Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Ritchie’s gangster film ended when most of the cast got whacked, conveniently clearing all the danger for the story’s chief heroes. And that is pretty well how business has been scripted for Dunstone, where he’s tied up with Dixons, owner of Currys and PC World, to create Dixons Carphone and is now enjoying the fact that most of combined company’s high street rivals have been bumped off.
These days you don’t need to worry that Comet or Phones 4u might be taking your loot, which is why City analysts are gushing ahead of this week’s first results since the merger. Deutsche predicts “an electric 2015” based on “synergy opportunities, Phones 4u’s closure [and] secure network relationships”, while moaning that the merger will make the group’s numbers complicated. Much like the film plot.
