Phones 4u loses key Vodafone contract in 2015
High street mobile retailer Phones 4u saw the value of its debt, listed on the Irish stock exchange, plummet over 50 percentage points yesterday after Vodafone announced it would not renew its contract with the group.
Vodafone, which accounted for 27 per cent of Phones 4u’s contract sales and 16 per cent of its pay as you go sales during the year to 31 July to a total of £212m in sales, said it would stop selling through Phones 4u when its contract expires in February 2015.
“Although we are disappointed with the decision by Vodafone, Phones 4u continues to trade well in the market,” said chief executive David Kassler.
Following the departure of both O2 and Three, Vodafone’s move will reduce Phones 4u’s trading relationships to those with EE, and its legacy T-Mobile and Orange brands, Virgin Mobile, Phones 4u’s own LIFE Mobile brand as well as a number of smaller carriers.
A Vodafone spokesperson said on the decision: “Earlier this year Vodafone UK said it was reviewing its distribution strategies in the UK and that it would be opening a further 150 stores and creating 1,400 new jobs.”
EE in July announced a review of its indirect sales, through both Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U, which is still ongoing.