By Zeba Fatima

UK: Carphone Warehouse will increasingly target “key opportunities” in smartphone and tablet sales as like-for-likes fell 4.7% in the third quarter.

A number of longer term UK customer contracts came up for renewal at the same time as the launch of new smartphone products, which boosted business, but the retailer said the pre-pay market fell 35% to 40% in the third quarter.

This was due to a reduction in subsidies from the networks, and a lack of smartphone products in this segment. Revenue from non-cellular products including tablets which the company is increasingly emphasising - grew 15% in the quarter, but this is still less than 10% of total sales.

Virgin Mobile France, where it owns 47%, saw revenue growth of more than 15%, with the company reducing its focus on low-end pre-pay customers.

“As with all retailers, we face a tough consumer backdrop, but our customers value our proposition and we are capitalising on the strong product cycle in smart phones and non-cellular categories, where we continue to broaden our range," said Carphone Warehouse chief executive, Roger Taylor:

Elsewhere it has now closed all eleven of its unsuccessful Best Buy UK stores - its partnership in electrical retailing with the US group. Following a number of transactions with Best Buy it plans to return 172p a share to investors, with an ex-dividend date of 27 January. With its positive outlook, the company's shares have climbed 10.25p to 324p.

"The third quarter statement shows like for likes in Europe down by 4.7%, slightly below consensus forecasts of a 4.2% fall, and Virgin Mobile France revenues up 15%," said Singer Capitals Market analyst, Matthew McEachran.

All eleven Best Buy UK stores have now been closed and management remain confident that leases can be assigned.