Carphone Warehouse is considering the future of its Best Buy roll out following losses at the 10-strong chain of more than £60m for the full year to March 31 2011.
Preliminary results published this morning by Carphone Warehouse, which owns a 50% stake of the Best Buy Europe business in a joint venture with the US firm, show that Best Buy UK made an EBIT loss of £62.2m for the full year, compared with a £21m loss in the previous year - a period in which it had not yet opened the doors on its first store.

The results follow speculation in the national press at the weekend that Best Buy is to halt its UK roll out, which plans for a bullish 80 stores by 2013, in a bid to cut costs.

Speaking to DIY Week, a Carphone Warehouse spokesperson referred to the results presentation, which states, " Following this launch period we are in the process of evaluating the next steps in our multi-format/multi-channel consumer electronics strategy." DIY Week was told no further comment would be made, nor would the company confirm or deny that expansion plans are to be scaled back or halted.

However, it seems highly unlikely that Best Buy will get to its 80-store target by 2013. It opened its first store in April 2010 and its 10th and latest store, in Rotherham, earlier this month. A further opening, in Enfield later this year, is currently confirmed. Therefore, in order to meet its target Best Buy would have to open between 30 and 40 stores a year from now, having opened just 10 in the past 14 months.