SHARES in Carphone Warehouse Group Plc, Europe's largest mobile phone retailer, yesterday fell the most since its initial public offering in London in 2000 after the company said broadband revenue growth this year may be lower than forecast.

Carphone Warehouse stock lost as much as 19 percent to 1.85 pounds (US$3.60) in London trading, Bloomberg News reported.

The number of new broadband customers since April 1 is lower than anticipated because of a slumping housing market and higher mobile broadband sales, the company said in a statement yesterday. Should the trend continue, it said the growth target will have to be lowered.

"The world is slightly uncertain," Chief Financial Officer Roger Taylor said in an interview. "There's a recessionary feel" in the economy.

Cash strategy

Carphone Warehouse has been expanding its mobile phone and broadband Internet services, reducing its reliance on the retail business.

Last month, the London-based company agreed to sell a 50-percent stake in a venture holding its stores to Best Buy Co for 1.1 billion pounds so it can use the cash to expand high-speed Internet services.

The stock traded 6.9 percent lower at 212 pence as of 9:41am in London. Before yesterday, Carphone Warehouse shares had lost 34 percent this year.

"When the company comes out with a cautious statement, it makes people nervous," said Sam Hart, a London-based analyst at Charles Stanley Group Plc who rates the company "hold."

"It's the outlook that people are concerned about. They're suffering from weakness in consumer confidence."

Annual profit rose 76 percent after the company added wireless and broadband subscribers. Net income climbed to 117.6 million pounds, or 12.4 pence a share, in the year ending in March from 67 million pounds, or 7.1 pence, a year earlier, Carphone Warehouse said yesterday.

Sales climbed 12 percent to 4.47 billion pounds, short of the 4.52-billion-pound average of 15 analysts' estimates.

In fiscal 2008, the company added 15 percent more customers for a total of 11.5 million, with 4.45 million subscription clients and 6.46 million prepay customers.

In the year, the company added 442,000 new broadband users, a gain of 19 percent.