CPW.L Share News (CPW)

Carphone Warehouse has been signed as the 'preferred partner' of Samsung Electronics to operate more than 60 Samsung stand-alone stores across Europe.The FTSE 250-listed company already operates three Samsung stores across Spain, all of which opened last year. The new stores, which will be rolled out over a three-month period across seven European markets, will sell Samsung mobile communications products and merge elements of both companies' technology and knowledge. Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of Carphone Warehouse, said: "Our Connected World Services business will combine Carphone Warehouse's retailing expertise and systems with one of the world's biggest brands and will help us make even more lives better through connected technology."The company also revealed that there was potential to expand the relationship further, with Carphone Warehouse acting as Samsung's preferred partner across Europe and operating the majority of dedicated Samsung stores."This is an important alliance playing to both companies' strengths. Together we will create a powerful new retail concept to showcase, for our customers, a wide range of products, content and services as well as injecting both investment and new jobs into the retail sector," it added. The news prompted a 5.87% jump in the share price to 285p in the first few minutes of Wednesday trade. NR