Carphone demerger will be complete in a year

Carphone Warehouse says it expects to complete the demerger of its two businesses Talk Talk and Best Buy Europe in just over a year.

The telecoms service and retail group says the two businesses are already running as separate businesses and the work to complete their independence will be complete by next July.

Europe’s biggest mobile phone retailer revealed its plans this morning as it reported group revenue fell by 3% to £1.4bn in 2008-09 compared to last year.

It says the recently announced acquisition of Tiscali UK will “cement” Talk Talk’s position as market leader in the UK telecoms market.

Although the fixed line business posted a 2% decline in residential revenues, it says customer acquisition picked up “significantly” towards the end of the financial year, culminating in a 27% rise in customer numbers for the year.

Meanwhile, the group says it increased revenues at Best Buy Europe by 15% to £3.5bn and is on course to start roll out of its ‘Big Box’ format stores next spring.