Best Buy is to push ahead with a more aggressive roll-out of stores in the UK than analysts and competitors had expected, with some 200 stores planned over the long term.

The plans underline the scale of the US electronic retailer’s ambition for its European venture with Carphone Warehouse.

They also will set a stiff test for DSG International, whose Currys and PC World chains will bear the brunt of the US onslaught just as DSG undergoes its own restructuring amid a consumer downturn.

Best Buy and Carphone announced in May that the US company would pay £1.1bn for a 50% stake in a joint venture with its British peer. In return, Carphone is to place its existing retail operation into the partnership.

Financial Times