Currys reported a 7% rise in group like-for-like sales for the first 17 weeks of its financial year on 10 September 2026, the first trading update signed off by new group chief executive Fredrik Tønnesen. The Currys trading update showed UK and Ireland like-for-like revenue up 6%, the Nordics up 9%, and full-year profit guidance held at a consensus £199 million (about USD 269 million at roughly 1.35 dollars to the pound). The electricals retailer said it gained market share in every major UK category in a market it described as flat, yet the shares slipped in early London trading as investors booked profits ahead of the Christmas peak.
In short
- Group like-for-like sales rose 7% in the 17 weeks to 29 August 2026, with the UK and Ireland up 6% and the Nordics up 9%, according to the company’s stock exchange announcement.
- Guidance is unchanged: Currys said it remains comfortable with market consensus for adjusted pre-tax profit of £199 million in 2026/27, and expects year-end net cash “well above” its £100 million target.
- Services keep compounding: iD Mobile passed 2.7 million subscribers (up 16%), FlexPay credit adoption reached 23.6% of UK and Ireland sales, and £23 million of a £50 million share buyback has been completed.
- The market shrugged: shares opened higher at 155p then fell to an intraday low of 146.1p, down close to 2% on the day, despite Citi predicting a “materially positive” reaction beforehand.
- AGM friction: every resolution passed, but 20.32% of votes went against the election of director Rune Bjerke and 13.16% against the re-election of chairman Ian Dyson, per the AGM result filing.
What did Currys announce on 10 September?
The announcement, headed “Strong start to the year in UK&I and Nordics”, was published through the Regulatory News Service at 7am on Thursday 10 September, timed for the company’s annual general meeting later that morning. It covers the 17 weeks from 3 May to 29 August 2026, the first stretch of Currys’ 2026/27 financial year. The core numbers were straightforward: group like-for-like revenue up 7%, UK and Ireland up 6%, Nordics up 9%, with gross margins described as stable in both regions.
Tønnesen, who succeeded Alex Baldock on 3 August, framed the period as continuity rather than change. “Currys has maintained its strong momentum,” he said in the statement. “Across the Group we saw growth in both stores and online, with new categories, B2B and Services all growing strongly.” He added that the business had kept its “focus on margin, cost and cash discipline” and that in the UK and Ireland it “gained share in every category, in a market that was flat”.
On capital returns, the retailer confirmed it had completed £23 million of the £50 million buyback programme announced with its full-year results in July. It repeated that it expects to finish the year with net cash well above its £100 million floor, and that it is targeting at least 2.8 million iD Mobile subscribers by year-end. Interim results for the 26 weeks to 31 October are scheduled for 17 December 2026.
Why the 17-week period matters more than usual
This is the first trading window entirely under the new chief executive, and it lands after a full year in which Currys reported revenue of £9.25 billion (around USD 12.5 billion), adjusted pre-tax profit of £191 million and a doubling of its dividend to 3.0p per share. Baldock left with the turnaround widely regarded as complete. The question analysts and rivals now ask is whether the pace can be sustained by a leader whose track record was built in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland rather than on British retail parks.
The company also disclosed one caveat that sharpens the picture. UK and Ireland sales benefited by roughly 2 percentage points from the football World Cup and the summer heatwaves, per the statement. Strip that out and underlying UK growth was closer to 4%, still ahead of the 3% like-for-like the region reported for the whole of 2025/26, but a smaller acceleration than the headline suggests.
Why did the shares fall on a strong update?
Currys stock opened at 155p, above Wednesday’s 151.7p close, then reversed to a low of 146.1p before settling around 148.8p mid-morning, a fall of close to 2%, according to AskTraders’ account of the session. Investing.com reported the shares down 1.3% in early trading. Citi had told clients before the release that it expected “a materially positive share price reaction to this update given strong trading and reiterated guidance”, noting the shares had drifted lower into the announcement.
The gap between expectation and outcome comes down to two things. First, the update contained no upgrade. Currys said it was “comfortable with market consensus” and will not revisit guidance until after the Christmas peak, when the bulk of annual profit is made. Peel Hunt, which rates the shares a buy with a 182p target, noted that the first half typically represents only 10% to 15% of full-year profit, so strong early-season sales cannot yet be translated into a materially higher number.
Second, the shares had already run. Currys was up about 19% year-to-date on 9 September and had reached 169.5p in July before drifting 10% lower. A trading update that confirmed the thesis without extending it gave shorter-term holders a reason to bank gains. The mean analyst price target sits at roughly 185p, per IG’s preview, so the sell-side view of the equity has not changed.
What analysts said about the upside
Panmure Liberum, which has a buy rating and a 200p target, quantified the operational gearing in the model: each percentage point of group like-for-like growth adds roughly £12.5 million to group profit, or about 6.5% of the £191 million adjusted pre-tax profit reported for 2025/26. On that maths, a full year at 7% like-for-like growth would sit comfortably above the £199 million consensus. Panmure described the update as showing “sales performance accelerating in both UK&I and Nordics” with “meaningful upside opportunity”.
Peel Hunt expected forecast upgrades of 1% to 3% across the market. The caution is that electricals retail is seasonal and price-competitive, and Currys itself has chosen to wait until it has seen Black Friday and Christmas before committing to a higher figure. That discipline, rather than any weakness in the numbers, explains why the update read as “steady” to the market rather than “beat”.
How does the UK business compare with the Nordics?
The Nordics outgrew the UK again, as they did throughout 2025/26, but the UK acceleration is the more significant development for British shoppers and for rival retailers. UK and Ireland like-for-like revenue growth doubled from 3% in the last financial year to 6% in the first 17 weeks. The Nordics moved from 6% to 9% in a market that Currys described as growing strongly, helped by easing inflation and lower interest rates across the region.
| Metric | UK & Ireland | Nordics | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Like-for-like sales, 17 weeks to 29 Aug 2026 | +6% | +9% | +7% |
| Like-for-like sales, full year 2025/26 | +3% | +6% | +4% |
| Market backdrop (company description) | Flat | Strong growth | Mixed |
| Market share trend | Gains in every major category | Gains in most countries and categories | Gaining |
| Gross margin | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Growth drivers cited | Stores and online, new categories, B2B, Services | White goods, mobile, new categories, B2B, Services | Broad-based |
| Adjusted EBIT, 2025/26 | £158m (2.9% margin) | £97m (2.5% margin) | £255m (2.8% margin) |
Source: Currys plc trading update of 10 September 2026 and full-year results of 2 July 2026.
The Nordic performance carries a personal dimension. Tønnesen ran that division from March 2023, a period in which the company said Nordic operating profit more than tripled, and the board cited that record when it named him group chief executive. The 9% figure is therefore both a vindication of the strategy he built there and a benchmark he will be measured against in the UK. Nordic gross margin was under pressure in 2025/26 from currency-related contract devaluation, so the “stable” description this time is a modest improvement.
The UK number, meanwhile, was delivered in a market the company calls flat. In 2025/26 Currys reported gaining 60 basis points of UK share while the overall market shrank 1.3%. The 17-week update suggests the market has stopped shrinking but not started growing, so the 6% figure is almost entirely share taken from competitors. That is a direct challenge to AO World, whose profit climb to £50 million was built on the same online electricals demand that Currys is now contesting more aggressively.
What is actually driving UK sales?
Currys did not break out UK category growth in the September statement, but it named the drivers: growth in both stores and online, double-digit growth in new categories and in B2B, and strong recurring Services revenue. Read alongside the July full-year results, the pattern is consistent. Computing, led by AI-enabled laptops and the Nintendo Switch 2, was the strongest category in 2025/26, while televisions declined in a soft market. The company said at the time that Copilot+ PCs accounted for almost a quarter of laptop sales and that it held around 75% of the UK market for AI-enabled laptops.
New categories and business customers
“New categories” is Currys’ label for products outside its traditional electricals core, from health and beauty tech to garden and home. That segment grew 52% in 2025/26 from a low base and is still growing at a double-digit rate. B2B, which sells to schools, small businesses and public bodies, grew 20% in the UK last year and now represents about 8% of group sales. Both lines matter because they are less exposed to the price-led Black Friday cycle that squeezes margin on televisions and washing machines.
The company’s estimate of its own addressable market has widened accordingly. Currys now describes its UK addressable market as roughly £48 billion, against a historic figure of around £16 billion when it defined itself purely as an electricals shop. Whether it can convert that ambition into share is one of the open questions for the Tønnesen era.
iD Mobile, credit and repairs
Services are where Currys makes its most reliable money. iD Mobile, the company’s own mobile network brand, passed 2.7 million subscribers in the period, up 16% year-on-year, and the target of 2.8 million by year-end looks conservative on that run-rate. FlexPay, the in-house credit product, was used on 23.6% of UK and Ireland sales, up 30 basis points, having reached £1.2 billion of credit sales in 2025/26. Protection plans stood at 11.6 million across the group at the July year-end, and the repair operation carried out 1.6 million repairs.
These recurring revenues reached £873 million in 2025/26, up 7%, and carry far higher margins than product sales. They are also the reason the business is less vulnerable to the online-only model than it looked five years ago: a shop that installs, repairs, finances and connects is harder to undercut on price alone. The economics of that approach are examined in our piece on which retail repair programmes actually pay for themselves, and Currys is one of the few UK chains where the answer is clearly yes.
Stores versus online
The statement said sales grew in both stores and online in the UK, without splitting the two. In 2025/26 Currys reported that 33% of UK and Ireland revenue was omnichannel, meaning a sale that touched both a store and a digital channel, up 3 percentage points over two years. Installation was included on 32% of big-box deliveries and recycling on 36%. For a high-street audience, the practical point is that the store estate is doing work that a pure e-commerce rival cannot replicate, and the company is investing in it rather than shrinking it.
How does Currys compare with its UK rivals right now?
The Currys update landed in the same week as two other significant UK retail results, and the contrast is instructive. John Lewis Partnership reported on 10 September that its first-half loss before exceptionals had doubled to £89 million, with John Lewis department store sales down 2% and Waitrose up 4%. AO World, the online-only electricals specialist, reported full-year profit of around £50 million in June. The three businesses overlap heavily in televisions, laptops and large appliances, which makes Currys’ share gains a zero-sum story for at least one of them.
| Retailer | Latest reported period | Sales trend | Profit position | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currys | 17 weeks to 29 Aug 2026 | UK&I LFL +6%, group +7% | FY guidance £199m adjusted PBT, unchanged | Stores plus online, own credit and mobile network |
| John Lewis (department stores) | H1 2026/27, reported 10 Sep 2026 | John Lewis sales down 2% | Partnership loss before exceptionals £89m | Stores plus online, partnership-owned |
| AO World | FY 2025/26, reported June 2026 | Growth, per company results | Profit around £50m | Online-only with own logistics |
| Independent electrical retailers | n/a | Mixed; high-street footfall down 3.1% in August (BRC) | Varies; business rates relief now via lower multipliers | Single store or small chain, often Euronics buying group |
Sources: company announcements; BRC-Sensormatic footfall monitor for August 2026.
The John Lewis result is the sharpest comparison. Both retailers sell the same televisions and laptops through a mix of stores and online, and both compete on service. One is taking share in a flat market and returning £85 million a year to shareholders; the other is spending £600 million on investment while its department-store sales fall. The difference is not the products but the attach economics: Currys makes money on the finance, the SIM card and the repair, while John Lewis has historically relied on the product margin and a loyalty proposition.
For AO, the threat is more direct. Its model depends on winning the price-sensitive online appliance customer, and Currys has said explicitly that its UK growth came in both channels. If the store-backed retailer can match online pricing while attaching services, AO’s addressable pool narrows. Industry estimates suggest the UK electricals market has been broadly flat in value terms for two years, so any share Currys gains is share someone else loses.
What did the AGM vote reveal about shareholder sentiment?
The annual general meeting at 11am on 10 September passed every resolution, but the voting record filed afterwards shows two points of friction. The election of Rune Bjerke as a director attracted 20.32% opposition, and the re-election of chairman Ian Dyson saw 13.16% of votes cast against. Both figures exceed the 20% and 10% thresholds respectively at which UK governance codes expect a company to explain itself. Currys acknowledged the “significant minority” against Bjerke and committed to further engagement, promising to “publish an update as soon as possible”.
Other resolutions sailed through. Tønnesen was elected with 99.99% support, the remuneration report was approved with 97.90%, the 2.25p final dividend with 99.98%, and the buyback authority with 99.90%. The pattern is a shareholder base that is content with the strategy and management but wants to register concern about specific board appointments, possibly on grounds of independence or board time commitment. It is not a revolt, but it is a signal the board has said it will address.
What does the update say about the UK consumer?
Currys’ description of the UK market as flat is consistent with the wider data published this month. The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for August 2026 showed total UK retail sales growth slowing to around 0.5% year-on-year, from 1.0% in July, with non-food sales down 1.2% and online non-food sales down 0.2%. Food sales grew 2.6%, down from 4.7% in the same month of 2025. Online accounted for 36.4% of non-food purchases, a fraction above last year but below the 12-month average of 38%.
Footfall tells a similar story. The BRC-Sensormatic monitor for August, published on 4 September, showed total UK footfall down 1.7% on a year earlier, an improvement on July’s 2.1% decline. High streets remained the weakest destination at minus 3.1%, shopping centres were down 0.5% and retail parks, where most large Currys stores sit, were the only format to grow, up 1.0%. Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, attributed the August improvement to cooler temperatures bringing shoppers “back after a scorching July to stock up on essentials and back-to-school items”.
Against that backdrop, a 6% like-for-like gain in a category where the market is flat is a genuine outperformance, even after the company’s own estimate that the World Cup and the heat added around 2 percentage points. It also explains the retail-park location advantage: Currys is on the one format still attracting more visitors, while high-street chains are managing decline. The pattern of stores that trade well being the ones with parking and a big-ticket mission is one that independent retailers on town-centre pitches cannot easily copy.
Inflation, interest rates and the golden quarter
Sensormatic’s Andy Sumpter noted that UK inflation is at a two-year high and “likely placing renewed pressure on disposable incomes”. That is the context for Currys’ refusal to upgrade guidance before Christmas. The golden quarter from Black Friday to the January sales typically generates the majority of annual profit for an electricals retailer, and management has seen enough previous years to know that a strong September does not guarantee a strong December. Our analysis of why holiday electronics discounts are likely to shrink in 2026 points to memory-chip cost inflation as the swing factor, and Currys’ stable gross margin commentary suggests it has so far held price rather than chased volume.
What are the cost headwinds and what could the 28 October Budget change?
Currys absorbed £32 million of incremental annual costs from the 2024 Autumn Budget’s employer National Insurance and minimum wage changes, and said in July it had mitigated them through productivity programmes: electronic shelf-edge labels worth about £6 million a year, a “Right First Time” repair programme worth over £6 million and a cloud migration worth over £10 million in the UK and Ireland. Employment costs continue to rise, and the company’s line is that it does not count on the outside world for help.
The next fiscal event is now dated. Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026, according to the Treasury’s announcement and coverage by Coutts and Deloitte. The BRC has already made its pitch. “Retailers don’t need warm words, they need lower costs,” Dickinson said in the footfall release. “With his first Budget weeks away, chancellor Healey has a chance to throw Britain’s high streets a lifeline.” The specific asks are on business rates and energy costs.
Business rates were already reformed from April 2026. The old 40% retail, hospitality and leisure relief, capped at £110,000 per business, ended on 31 March and was replaced by permanently lower multipliers: 38.2p in the pound for qualifying properties with a rateable value under £51,000, and 43.0p for those between £51,000 and £499,999. A higher 50.8p multiplier applies to properties valued at £500,000 or more, which catches large stores and distribution centres. The net effect for a chain like Currys, with big-box units on retail parks, is mixed: smaller stores gained, the largest sites and warehouses pay more. The sector’s earlier reaction to the tax changes is set out in our report on UK retailers cutting 18,000 jobs as tax rises reshaped the high street.
| Business rates measure, England | 2025/26 | From 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Retail, hospitality and leisure relief | 40% discount, capped at £110,000 per business | Withdrawn |
| Small RHL multiplier (RV under £51,000) | Standard small multiplier | 38.2p |
| Standard RHL multiplier (RV £51,000 to £499,999) | Standard multiplier | 43.0p |
| High-value multiplier (RV £500,000 and above) | Standard multiplier | 50.8p |
| Pubs and live music venues | Included in RHL relief | 15% reduction for 2026/27 |
Source: local authority guidance for the 2026/27 rating year, including Camden and BCP councils.
What happens between now and the interim results?
Currys has set out a clear calendar. The first-half period ends on 31 October, interim results follow on 17 December, and full-year guidance will be revisited only once peak trading is done. In between sit the events that will decide whether the £199 million consensus is beaten: the Black Friday week at the end of November, the Christmas run, and the January sales. Analysts at Peel Hunt and Panmure have already pencilled in upgrades; the company has not.
- 31 October 2026: end of the 26-week first half.
- 28 October 2026: Autumn Budget, with the BRC lobbying on business rates and energy.
- Late November 2026: Black Friday trading, the first real test of price discipline under memory-chip cost inflation.
- 17 December 2026: interim results, and the first point at which guidance could be raised.
- Year-end, early May 2027: net cash target of well above £100 million; iD Mobile target of at least 2.8 million subscribers.
The buyback provides a floor of sorts. With £27 million of the £50 million programme still to execute, the company will be a steady buyer of its own shares through the autumn, and the total cash return for the year is planned at around £85 million including dividends. That is a level of capital return that would have been unthinkable at Currys five years ago, when the pension deficit stood above £100 million; it has since fallen to £6 million after an £82 million contribution.
What does this mean for shoppers and independent electrical retailers?
For shoppers, the practical read-across is that Currys is not discounting to grow. Stable gross margins alongside 6% sales growth mean prices have held, and the growth is coming from more customers, more attached services and new categories rather than from a price war. Anyone waiting for early Black Friday deals on televisions should expect the same dynamic as last year: headline discounts on selected lines, firm pricing on laptops where component costs have risen, and a hard sell on FlexPay credit and iD Mobile bundles at the till.
For independent electrical retailers, most of whom trade through buying groups such as Euronics, the update is a warning and a map. The warning is that the largest competitor is gaining share in a flat market while high-street footfall falls 3.1%. The map is what it is gaining share with: installation, repair, finance and a mobile contract, all attached to the product sale. None of those requires a national store estate. A single-site retailer that can install, repair and finance is offering the same proposition at a local scale, and the BRC’s data suggests that retail-park and out-of-town pitches are where big-ticket customers are choosing to go.
The Budget on 28 October is the other variable. If Healey moves further on business rates for smaller properties, the relative cost position of an independent on a £40,000 rateable value shop improves against a chain paying the 50.8p multiplier on a £600,000 warehouse. If he does not, the cost gap stays where the April 2026 changes left it. Either way, the Currys numbers show that the electricals customer still exists and is still spending; the contest is over who serves them.
FAQ: Currys trading update, September 2026
What did Currys report on 10 September 2026?
Currys reported group like-for-like sales up 7% for the 17 weeks to 29 August 2026, with UK and Ireland up 6% and the Nordics up 9%. Gross margins were stable in both regions, all full-year guidance was unchanged, and the company said it remains comfortable with consensus adjusted pre-tax profit of £199 million for 2026/27. It also confirmed £23 million of a £50 million share buyback was complete and that iD Mobile subscribers had passed 2.7 million.
Why did Currys shares fall after a strong trading update?
The shares had risen about 19% in 2026 before the update and traders had expected an upgrade to guidance. Currys instead held guidance, saying it will not revisit its full-year target until after the Christmas peak, when most annual profit is earned. With no new number to price in, some investors took profits: the stock opened at 155p, fell to a low of 146.1p and traded around 148.8p mid-morning, down close to 2%, per AskTraders.
Who is Fredrik Tønnesen and when did he become Currys chief executive?
Fredrik Tønnesen became Currys group chief executive on 3 August 2026, succeeding Alex Baldock. He previously ran the company’s Nordic division, which trades as Elkjøp, from March 2023. The board said Nordic operating profit more than tripled under his leadership. Shareholders elected him to the board with 99.99% support at the AGM on 10 September 2026.
Is Currys raising its profit forecast for 2026/27?
Not yet. The company said it is comfortable with market consensus of £199 million adjusted pre-tax profit and will update after peak trading. Analysts see room for upgrades: Panmure Liberum estimates each percentage point of like-for-like growth adds about £12.5 million to profit, and Peel Hunt expects forecasts to rise 1% to 3%. The first opportunity for the company to change the number is the interim results on 17 December 2026.
How many iD Mobile customers does Currys have?
iD Mobile passed 2.7 million subscribers in the 17 weeks to 29 August 2026, up 16% year-on-year. The company had 2.6 million at its May 2026 year-end and is targeting at least 2.8 million by the end of the 2026/27 financial year. iD Mobile is part of Currys’ recurring Services revenue, which reached £873 million in 2025/26.
What is the UK electricals market doing in 2026?
Currys describes the UK market as flat. The wider retail picture is weak: the BRC-KPMG monitor showed total UK retail sales growth of around 0.5% in August 2026 with non-food sales down 1.2%, and BRC-Sensormatic footfall was down 1.7% overall and 3.1% on high streets. Retail parks, where most large Currys stores are located, were the only format to grow footfall, up 1.0%.
What happened at the Currys AGM on 10 September 2026?
All resolutions passed. The notable results were 20.32% of votes against the election of director Rune Bjerke and 13.16% against the re-election of chairman Ian Dyson. The board acknowledged the “significant minority” opposition and said it will engage with shareholders and publish an update. The 2.25p final dividend, the buyback authority and the remuneration report all passed with more than 97% support.
When are the next Currys results?
Interim results for the 26 weeks ending 31 October 2026 are due on 17 December 2026. That release will cover Black Friday but not Christmas, so full-year guidance may still be held until the January trading update. The Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026 is the other date to watch for changes to business rates and employment costs.
How do the new business rates multipliers affect electrical retailers?
From 1 April 2026, qualifying retail properties in England pay 38.2p in the pound if the rateable value is under £51,000 and 43.0p between £51,000 and £499,999, replacing the old 40% relief that was capped at £110,000 per business. Properties at £500,000 and above pay a higher 50.8p multiplier. Small independent shops generally benefit; large stores and distribution centres pay more.
What to watch next
The next hard data point is the interim results on 17 December, but the shape of the story will be set earlier by the Budget on 28 October and by how Currys prices Black Friday against a backdrop of rising component costs. Our coverage of the outlook for holiday electronics discounts and of AO World’s competing model gives the context for both. For now, the retailer that spent a decade being written off has produced a 7% like-for-like number under a new chief executive and kept its powder dry on guidance, which is exactly what a confident business does in September.