ELECTRICALS and mobile phone retailer Dixons Carphone reported a 24 per cent slump in annual profits with new chief executive Alex Baldock warning that getting the business back on track will take time.

Mr Baldock, who took over as chief executive from Seb James just two months ago, joining the business from Littlewoods owner Shop Direct, said “we have plenty of work to do” as the company made an underlying pre-tax profit of £328 million for the year to April 28, down from £500m the previous year.

Like-for-like revenues in the UK and Ireland rose 2%, while group like-for-like revenues were up 4%, boosted by strong growth in Scandinavia and Greece. In the UK mobile phone sales were flat on a like-for-like basis.

In May, the troubled retailer confirmed that it would close 92 of its 700-plus Carphone Warehouse stores this year, blaming a challenging market and a slowdown in sales of new mobile handsets. Last week, it admitted a data breach involving 5.9 million payment cards and 1.2 million personal data records.

The company, which trades as Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Ireland, Elkjøp, Elgiganten, Gigantti in the Nordic countries, Kotsovolos in Greece and Dixons Travel in a number of UK airports, employs over 42,000 people in eight countries.

Mr Baldock, who has previously highlighted underinvestment in the company, said that Dixons Carphone was a business “with so many strengths and with so much more to go for”. He said: “Recent events have underlined that we have plenty of work to do, and it will take time, but I’m even more confident than the day I took the job in our long-term prospects.

"We’re number one, maintaining or growing share in each of our markets, with people and scale multichannel capabilities no competitor can rival.” But he said that the business could make more of its strengths by bringing “clear long-term direction that sharpens our focus on our core”.

Mr Baldock said: “There’s nothing here that can’t be done, and we expect top and bottom-line benefit of doing it. Our new leadership team is working at pace to set that direction, and we’ve taken action already to invest more in our colleagues and the customer experience, as well as to improve our performance in the UK.

"I look forward to giving a fuller update on our plans and progress in December.”

Dixons Carphone is the latest in a raft of high-street retailers to encounter problems or go out of business as they suffer from growing online competition and subdued consumer spending.

Earlier this week department store Debenhams said it expects pre-tax profits for the full year to come in between £35m and £40m, well below City forecasts of £50.3m.

Other household names to feel the pinch this year in a grim retail climate include Marks & Spencer, Carpetright, Topshop, Mothercare, New Look and House of Fraser.

Analysts at Liberum said the company was “in a period of transition”, stating: “The new chief executive has started to take action, including realigning management and planning for significant additional investment into staff and the customer proposition, which we see as sensible.”

Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said Dixons Carphone's results were not surprising given a "disastrous few years in the retail sector" and the recent news surrounding the data hacking issue. But she added: "Investors should appreciate that full-year revenues did increase by 3% to £10.5bn, driven by strong recoveries in the Nordic region and Greece.

"The new chief executive, Alex Baldock, has put a positive spin on the group’s current position, including highlighting the fact that it remains number one in many of its markets and is still growing market share.

"He has set an enthusiastic tone, suggesting that with a new management team in place, there’s nothing that can’t be done and expects results at the top and bottom line.

“While we appreciate the new management’s stance, the group’s fate, to a certain extent, is out of its control. The main issue is the state of the UK high street and consumer confidence levels in the face of only modest real wages increases and macro-economic uncertainties."