LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse (>> Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC) said it was buying out its joint venture partner Best Buy Co Inc (>> Best Buy Co., Inc.) for 471 million pounds, ending a five-year relationship.

Carphone Warehouse owns half of Carphone Warehouse Europe, which operates around 2,400 stores in nine European countries under the Carphone Warehouse and Phone House brand, with the U.S. retailer owning the other half.

The British group, Europe's biggest seller of mobile phones, also owns a 47 percent interest in Virgin Mobile France. It said the two companies had decided to separate to focus on their own regions.

The company announced the news as CPW Europe posted like-for-like revenue growth of 6.5 percent, reflecting a continued strong performance in Britain.

Analysts were expecting fourth-quarter like-for-like sales growth of about 4-5 percent, slowing from the 8 percent growth posted in its third quarter, the first full quarter of iPhone 5 sales.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton)