Carphone and Best Buy JV to open UK stores in 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - Carphone Warehouse's (CPW.L) retail joint venture with U.S. group Best Buy (BBY.N) plans to open its first stores in Britain in the first or second quarter of next year, Carphone's finance chief said on Thursday.

Roger Taylor told Reuters the joint venture had not yet signed any store leases and it was too early to talk about it making acquisitions.

"It's too early to suggest any acquisition," he said in an interview. "Our focus is actually getting some stores open ourselves, getting the Best Buy brand famous for what it can do in the UK and then, as always, we'll keep our mind open."

Some analysts have suggested the joint venture might bid for either DSG International (DSGI.L) or Kesa (KESA.L).

Some have also said Carphone might look to sell its telecoms business, but Taylor said that was "not on our agenda".

"There's a lot of speculation as to what the group might do. (But) we're very happy with what we've got as the structure of the business."

(Reporting by Mark Potter, editing by Will Waterman)