Poundland buys frozen food firm in £25m deal
1,000 JOBS SET TO BE CREATED
AROUND 1,000 new jobs are set to be created after discount retailer Poundland announced it had bought frozen food supplier Fultons Foods.
Poundland, which opened its very first shop in The Octagon shopping centre in Burton in the 1990s, has snapped up Barnsley-based Fultons in a move which will help “accelerate its transformation programme”.
The deal will see Poundland, which has its original Burton store in the former Beatties store in the shopping centre, invest in excess of £25 million over the next two years in its chilled and frozen operation, and convert the most “appropriate” Fultons stores into a full Poundland-format.
It also plans to establish Fultons’
Barnsley base as its national frozen distribution centre and build the infrastructure at its Harlow distribution centre, in Essex, to bring its frozen and chilled food offer to across the south of England.
In addition, around 1,000 full and part-time roles are set to be created through the introduction of “chilled and frozen” in stores and the transformation of its distribution centres.
Poundland – which is headquartered in Willenhall in the West Midlands – has been working with Fultons over the past 12 months to develop its chilled and frozen food range and building a distribution network to serve its stores.
The partnership has enabled Poundland to roll out frozen and chilled foods to more than 70 of its stores.
The acquisition will now see Poundland significantly extend the offer to another 40-plus stores by December, beginning this month in Luton, Bedfordshire. This will increase to as many as 500 stores over the next two years, making it an increasingly significant player in UK chilled and frozen food market.
Barry Williams, Poundland managing director, said: “We couldn’t have developed our chilled and frozen ranges without Fultons’ expertise and now is the right time to move to the next level and bring the team on board.
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“By combining our experience, we can accelerate our frozen and chilled rollout and bring the amazing value it offers to more of our customers across the UK.”
Both Fultons co-owners will remain involved in the business.
Karen Rees will become managing director reporting directly to Barry Williams, while Kevin Gunter will continue in an advisory role for six months. All 800-plus Fultons colleagues will join Poundland this month with no changes to their terms and conditions. Fultons’ managing director Karen Rees said: “For the last 12 months we’ve been proud to partner with Poundland, but even prouder that today we become family.
“We already know the Poundland customer loves our frozen and chilled foods offer – and we’re excited to know our people will be able to play a bigger part in Poundland’s transformation story.”
Fultons’ chairman Kevin Gunter said: “After leading the business for 24 years, I’m pleased we’ve been able to agree terms with Poundland who are committed to a renewed period of growth and investment. I’m looking forward to contributing in an advisory role over the next six months.”
The acquisition follows Poundland recently unveiling a wider transformation programme including bringing its PEP&CO fashion brand to more than 310 locations and, last month, rolling out its new PEP&CO Home ranges to all stores.
As part of the project, Poundland is refreshing and refurbishing stores and is pressing ahead with new store openings in Banbury and Bulwell and expanding in existing locations such as Telford and Tunstall in Stoke-on-trent.