[July 02, 2015] |
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Sprint Announces Retail Agreement with Dixons Carphone - Europe's Leading Wireless Retailer
Sprint (News - Alert) (NYSE:S) and Dixons Carphone today announced a commercial
relationship that pairs Sprint with a premier European consumer
electronics retailer renowned for innovation in wireless retail sales.
The relationship is expected to accelerate Sprint's retail
transformation, and is the latest inventive move to grow its number of
retail stores.
As part of the arrangement, in coming months Sprint will work closely
with Dixons Carphone Connected World Services (CWS) division on a pilot
program to build and operate about 20 new Sprint stores in select U.S.
markets. These Sprint stores will operate similarly to the third-party
retailers who operate Sprint-branded wireless stores across the U.S.
Sprint will own and staff the stores while CWS will manage them. CWS
will also apply its expertise and best practices across all of Sprint's
sales channels.
Dixons Carphone is Europe's leading specialist electrical and
telecommunications retailer and services company and is recognized as a
global retail innovator with world-class retail expertise. In a former
joint venture with Best Buy (News - Alert), the company helped launch Best Buy Mobile.
This agreement is the latest in Sprint's strategy to expand its
distribution and provide shoppers with a better customer experience.
Earlier this year, Sprint quickly and cost-effectively doubled the
number of corporate-owned stores by opening Sprint at RadioShack in
1,435 locations, which are currently undergoing renovation. Sprint has
also launched Direct 2 You, a one-of-a-kind service that brings a
personalized sales experience directly to customers whenever and
wherever they want - for free.
"Sprint is going to offer customers a greatly enhanced experience in
buying wireless products and services," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
"We are partnering with the world's leading wireless retailer to improve
the customer experience in our stores. Dixons Carphone has the expertise
and capabilities to accelerate this important part of our transformation
journey."
"We are delighted to be working with Sprint and to be a part of a
transformation in their business that is already making impressive
headway," said Andrew Harrison, Dixons Carphone Deputy Group Chief
Executive and CEO of CWS. "This is a very exciting venture for us, and
is a significant step in growing our CWS business in the US. We bring
specialist knowledge and skills to this reationship and will be looking
to deliver innovation and outstanding customer service under the Sprint
brand."
If the pilot stores prove to be successful Sprint and Dixons Carphone
will establish a joint venture to open and operate a substantial number
of new Sprint-branded stores across the U.S. The two companies will
equally fund the start-up costs of the joint venture and each will
initially have 50 percent ownership interest.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more
and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about
most. Sprint served more than 57 million connections as of March 31,
2015 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying
innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a
national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands
including Virgin Mobile (News - Alert) USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless;
instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a
global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years. You
can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com
or www.facebook.com/sprint
and www.twitter.com/sprint.
SAFE HARBOR
This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the securities laws. The words "may," "could," "should," "estimate,"
"project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe,"
"target," "plan," "will," "providing guidance," and similar expressions
are intended to identify information that is not historical in nature.
All statements that address operating performance, events, or
developments that we expect or anticipate may occur in the future -
including statements relating to the agreements with Dixons Carphone, as
well as statements expressing general views about future operating
results, brand distribution, and efficiencies of such transaction - are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and
projections reflecting management's judgment based on currently
available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these
forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding,
among other things, the ability to operationalize the anticipated
benefits from the transaction, including the creation of the joint
venture, as well as anticipated efficiencies of the agreement. Sprint
believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you
should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are
based on current expectations and speak only as of the date when made.
Sprint undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition,
forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
our company's historical experience and our present expectations or
projections. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are
not limited to, those discussed in Sprint Corporation's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the period ended March 31, 2015. You should understand
that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors.
Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set
of all potential risks or uncertainties.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150701006745/en/
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