Dixons boss Seb James backs EU In campaign: ‘Better the devil you know’

Chief executive's comments echo those of David Cameron, his friend and fellow former member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University

The chief executive of the company behind Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse has thrown his support behind Britain remaining part of the European Union, adding that most businesses are also in favour of staying in.

Seb James, chief executive of Dixons Carphone, said: “We’re still in wait-and-see mode – but if you ask any business person, they would say ‘the better the devil you know and let’s not run the risk of the unknown’. I’m one of those people for now but we need to see what happens with the negotiations.”

His comments echo those of David Cameron, his friend and fellow former member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University, and are expected to be a boost to the In campaign, with the company owning businesses across the Continent. Mr James was speaking as Dixons Carphone revealed a 5 per cent jump in UK sales during the 10 weeks to 9 January. He said that 134 stores would close, with more being merged into three-in-one operations trading under one roof as Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse.

Since the merger two years ago, Mr James has been putting more Carphone Warehouse operations into Currys PC World stores, and this will continue that trend as part of £80m of planned cost savings. He insisted that there would be no job losses, with staff redeployed in the merged operations.

The company plans to shut down the stores by the end of the year. There will be exit costs of £70m, but the move will add around £20m a year in the long run.

Mr James described a “double-hump” pattern of trading over the festive period. He said: “Customers were buying things for themselves on Black Friday and then coming in as couples on Boxing Day to buy gifts they had promised each other for Christmas. It was quite sweet really, watching customers picking TVs together.”

The company also said a trial with US network Sprint had proved successful and the business would roll out 500 stores across America.