Carphone Warehouse posted profits ahead of expectations after benefiting from a "buoyant" mobile market and the growth of its TalkTalk service.
The group, which has more than 1,300 retail outlets, said profits for the 26 weeks to September 25 improved 38.3 per cent to £28.1m, with sales at £1.03bn after a 25.1 per cent gain on the previous year.
The profits bettered City expectations of £27.5m, and were accompanied by upbeat comments from chief executive Charles Dunstone on the state of the market.
He said: "The outlook continues to be positive. We expect the mobile phone market to continue to grow year-on-year over the Christmas period and into the New Year."
Carphone pledged to open more stores to consolidate its market position and will soon launch broadband services in the UK.
The company said 650,000 customers had joined TalkTalk in the UK during the past 18 months, with the service in profit after a brand-building exercise that cost £18.8m in marketing.
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