A customer stands at Currys PC World store on Oxford Street on Black Friday'' in London, Britain on November 24, 2017. LONDON, January 14, Reuters -- British electricals retailer Currys CURY.L faces uncertain demand and more supply chain disruption in 2022, it warned, as it trimmed full-year profit guidance by 3% after Christmas sales were dented by a challenging technology market.
The group's shares, previously known as Dixons Carphone, were down 4.9% at 0955 GMT on Friday after it warned customers to expect price rises this year.
In 2022, we expect that there will be price rises, and we think that's inevitable, CEO Alex Baldock told reporters.
Currys would stand by its promise to be the cheapest in the market, he said.
Currys, which trades from more than 800 stores in seven countries, said like-for - like revenue fell 5% year on year in the 10 weeks to Jan. 8 but was up 4% against the same period in 2019 -- 20 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit trading.
Revenue for UK Ireland fell 6% year on year, while international revenue fell by the Nordics and Greece slipped by 3%.
The UK's technology market was down 10% compared to last year's peak period.
Currys came through this market turbulence well. We gained share in the UK, extending our market leadership. Baldock said that they focused on profitable sales, with good discipline on margin, cost and stock.
The group exited the peak period with stock in a good position, but it continues to face demand uncertainty and supply chain disruption that makes availability difficult in some areas, according to the company.
There is some uncertainty ahead on what's going to happen to the cost of living, discretionary income and where that goes, as well as the housing market and consumer confidence, according to Baldock.
Currys expects to deliver a full-year 2021 -- 22 adjusted pretax profit of about 155 million pounds $213 million compared with last month's guidance of about 160 million pounds and 156 million pounds made in 2020 -- 21.