Poundland owner posts sales jump amid ‘challenging times’ for UK shoppers

Poundland parent firm Pepco has hailed strong sales despite “challenging times” for customers as the group also said it will accelerate its store opening programme.

It came as the retail group said total revenues grew by 17.4% to 4.82 billion euros (£4.25 billion) over the year to September, compared with the previous year.

The firm’s Poundland business reported a 5% increase in revenues to 2.11 billion euros (£1.86 billion) for the year.

Poundland saw like-for-like growth of 1.7% over the final quarter of the year as customers faced rising household bills.

Trevor Masters, chief executive officer of Pepco Group, said: “These are very challenging times for families across Europe and we remain absolutely committed to helping customers on a budget by offering great range, value and convenience – and we are confident this will enable us to expand our customer base going forward.”

The group, which runs around 3,900 stores across Europe including around 800 Poundland shops, said demand for products “remains strong even against the backdrop of significant uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment”.

It added that the UK is “challenging” as customers continue to see pressure on their disposable income.

The company added: “That said, our value-led proposition becomes even more relevant in these challenging times and continues to drive new customers to our stores, expanding our target market, across Europe.”

On Wednesday, it confirmed that it grew its store estate by 516 over the past year, surpassing targets of 450 new stores.

It said it now plans to accelerate its plans to open at least 550 net new stores over the new financial year.

Mr Masters said: “After another year of good progress, we are accelerating our profitable store expansion programme – our biggest source of value creation – and store refit strategy, helping to drive like-for-like sales growth.

“Following recent successful openings, we will be launching the Pepco brand in the new markets of Greece and Portugal in full-year 2023.”