Currys has returned to adjusted profit in the first half of its financial year, reaching £9m, which is a year-on-year increase of £25m.

The tech retailer also saw its reported loss before tax improved by £34m to £10m in the six months to 26 October 2024.

The group’s revenue jumped marginally by 1% to £3.9bn, with UK and Ireland like-for-like revenue increasing by 5%, as a result of "strong sales and improved gross margin".

Furthermore, its cash flow increased from £4m in the same period in 2023 to £50m.

Group chief executive at Currys, Alex Baldock, said: "We're very encouraged by our progress. Currys' performance continues to strengthen, with profits and cashflow growing significantly, and the Group's balance sheet is strong.

"In the UK&I, we made big improvements to both online and stores channels, customers continued to take more of the solutions and services that are valuable to them and to us, and such growth drivers as B2B and iD Mobile performed well. All this showed in growing sales, market share, gross margins and profits.

"Underpinning our progress in both markets is strong customer satisfaction, which increased again, and colleague engagement now firmly established in the top 10% of companies worldwide."

Looking ahead, the retailer said that its trading during the six weeks since the period end has remained in line with expectations, with its full-year guidance being unchanged, as it continues to expect growth in profits and free cash flow for the year.

However, it added that this included the recent in-year impact of the UK Government’s Budget measures, which will be effective for the last five weeks of its financial year.

With these changes in the Budget, Currys has said that its expects the aggregated impact to have an incremental £32m cost to the group, which includes £9m and £12m increases due to the national living wage and national insurance contributions respectively.

Investment analyst at AJ Bell, Dan Coatsworth, concluded: "Currys’ board has been vindicated in its decision to fight off bid interest from US investment group Elliott. Half-year results show growth in profits and cash flow, it has increased UK market share, and trading remains resilient despite choppy conditions for UK shopkeepers.

"Rachel Reeves hasn’t done any favours for UK retailers given how Budget decisions will push up costs. Currys says her actions will cost it £32m which means it will have look harder for additional cost saving measures. Unfortunately for the consumer, price hikes are on their way as Currys implies it will have to pass on some of the extra costs.

"The new government was meant to have created a more favourable environment for consumers and businesses, sorting out public finances and accelerating economic growth. So far that remains a story for another day – the journey to reaching that goal is going to be turbulent. It means ongoing uncertainty when it comes to consumer spending."

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