Carphone Warehouse reported that like-for-like sales in its European business fell 4.7 per cent in the 13 weeks to December 31.

Although post-pay connections saw growth driven by the timing of customer contract renewals coinciding with new smart phone products, the low-end pre-pay market was very weak, collapsing by 35-40 per cent during the quarter.

The retailer, however, said it wanted to broaden its move into non-cellular products. Revenue from these products - Tablets, accessories, applications and content – grew 15 per cent year-on-year but, as Carphone Warehouse pointed out, this still represents less than 10 per cent of its total revenue.

“We continue to develop our multi-channel proposition and our new Wireless World format stores, said the company, “combining a focused connected electronics range with a strong service proposition, which will in turn drive our non-cellular revenue growth”.

It expects to have more than 375 of these stores across Europe by the end of March.

About its ill-fated ‘big box’ store joint venture with the USA’s Best Buy, Carphone Warehouse pointed out that all 11 UK stores have now closed and all inventory has been cleared. It said it remained confident in assigning the leases and had also been able to offer “credible” alternative roles to almost everyone who wanted to remain within the business.

Its joint venture with Virgin Group, Virgin Mobile France, reported year-on-year revenue growth of 15 per cent. “The business is about to start operating as a full virtual network operator, transitioning its customers to its own SIM cards over the next 18 to 24 months,” the company said.

Said chief executive Roger Taylor: “As with all retailers, we face a tough consumer backdrop, but our customers value our proposition and we are capitalising on the strong product cycle in smart phones and non-cellular categories, where we continue to broaden our range."