Dixons and Carphone Warehouse in merger talks
Dixons and Carphone Warehouse have confirmed they're considering merging the two companies, creating a huge retail empire.
Dixons and Carphone Warehouse are in talks concerning a possible merger. Dixons confirmed this morning that the two companies are in talks, but admitted that nothing might come from the discussion.
"These discussions are at a very preliminary stage and there can be no certainty that a transaction will be forthcoming," it said in the note.
Update: A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson has supplied this statement: "We can confirm we are in preliminary discussions with Dixons Retail Group about a possible merger of our businesses. To be clear, these are very early discussions and we will provide further updates when it is appropriate to do so."
Dixons runs more than 500 PC World and Currys stores in the UK and Ireland. There are more than 2,000 Carphone Warehouse stores throughout Europe. Dixons Retail also owns the Elkjop group in the Nordic region, and the Kotsovolos retail business in Greece.
No decisions have been made about the structure of the two businesses, or how a merger would affect staff.
Carphone Warehouse recently announced it was launching a range of Samsung stores in partnership with the South Korean mobile maker. 60 of the Samsung-only shops will open across Europe, with around 20 likely to be in the UK -- these will be a mix of new locations and existing branches that have been rebadged.
Back in 2011, PC World opened the Chrome Zone -- the first area dedicated to Google's products -- in its branch on London's Tottenham Court Road.
The British high street has had a rough few years. Dixons' stablemate Currys was close to going to the wall a couple of years ago, though it seems to have had a pretty healthy Christmas. Game was almost a goner as well, though recently it opened a range of shops focussing on pre-owned games and gadgets. So it looks like it's trying to muscle in on Computer Exchange's turf.
Do you think Carphone and Dixons should merge? What would it mean for electronics shops on the high street? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.