Poundland sales up by 0.6pc in UK
Single price discount store chain Poundland saw sales grow by just 0.6 per cent to £442.3 million in the first quarter of its financial year.
The Willenhall-based business, which has 882 shops in the UK and Ireland, is now owned by European discount retail group Pepkor Europe.
Pepkor also owns the PEPCO and Dealz brands in Europe.
In the three months to December 29 the group's sales were up 14.6 per cent to £852.2m driven mainly by continued expansion of PEPCO in Central Europe.
Pepkor said Poundland continued to outperform the wider UK high street driven primarily by the successful introduction of PEP&CO clothing ‘shop-in-shops’ and measured product range extension to support a broader range of price points.
At the close of the quarter the group traded from 2,451 stores, an increase of 12.4 per cent over the year.
Poundland, which has sites across the West Midlands, is continuing to rationalise its store portfolio in the UK, but took the opportunity presented by the failure of a competitor business last summer to take in new areas through the opening of 13 new stores.
Three of its shops also relocated to larger premises.
Pepkor said these stores were performing well and delivering strong returns on invested capital.
The European Dealz business continues to develop very positively and the group intends to open 35 new stores in the current financial year increasing the portfolio to about 60.
Andy Bond, chief executive of Pepkor Europe, said: “A further quarter of strong revenue growth in each of the group’s brands is a reflection of our clear growth strategy, centred currently on PEPCO, an unwavering focus on execution and our market leading positions within a core discount retail segment that’s increasingly attractive to a wide range of customers. Our positive early progress in Dealz provides further growth potential.
"With a clear strategy in place and a strong financial base we remain excited about our prospects for continued growth across Europe in the balance of the financial year and beyond.”
The PEP&CO clothing brand is now present in approximately 300 Poundland stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland and has established Poundland as a top 20 UK volume fashion retailer less than three years after PEP&CO was launched.
