Dixons Carphone, Vodafone and EE save number of Phones 4u stores and jobs

The three remaining major partners of Phones 4u prior to its move into administration have all moved to acquire some former Phones 4u stores and take on some of its employees.

Last week it was announced that Dixons Carphone would take over all the Phones 4u concessions currently residing in branches of Currys and PC World, but which were destined to be phased out anyway after Dixons decided to merge with CPW rather than P4U earlier this year. That amounts to 800 jobs in 160 concessions.

At the end of last week Vodafone made the following statement: “Vodafone UK today confirmed that it was approached by the Phones4U administrator and decided to make an offer to buy 140 of its stores as a way to accelerate our retail expansion programme and save hundreds of jobs.

“Our offer was accepted by the administrator and we are pleased to report that approximately 900 former Phones4U employees will keep their jobs and join our dynamic retail business. Subject to court approval, we will start engaging with these employees and begin the rebranding of the stores to Vodafone as soon as possible.”

This morning EE gave Telecoms.com the following statement: “We can confirm that we have agreed with the Phones 4u administrator to purchase 58 stores, safeguarding 359 jobs, subject to court approval.” While no details were offered regarding store locations or precise timing, we expect this process to be pretty swift and some rebranded stores to be re-opened as early as this week.

A quick back-of-the-envelope calculations reveals around half of the stores (including concessions) have been acquired by former partners, preserving around a third of the jobs. It seems pretty clear that everyone at the Phones 4u head office will need to look for work elsewhere, but half of the company’s retail assets are still looking for a new home.

The terms of the Vodafone acquisitions are confidential but we know EE paid £2.5 million for its 58 stores, so if Vodafone’s purchase we in the same proportion it should amount to around £6 million. With hundreds of millions of pounds still owed to Phones 4u bond-holders, the disposal of all of the company’s assets for what will probably be less than £20 million will provide little consolation.