Poundland cheered by strong sales following Pep&Co store rollout
THE OWNER of Poundland has cheered “strong” sales growth as the rollout of Pep&Co fashion outlets helped the budget chain shrug off wider high street woes.
Parent firm Pepkor Europe – owned by crisis-hit South African group Steinhoff – said the performance from its 840 Poundland stores across the UK and Ireland helped contribute to a 12.9 per cent jump in overall group-wide sales to £705m in its fourth quarter.
This saw revenues rise 10.6 per cent to £2.7bn for the year to September 30.
Andy Bond, chief executive of Pepkor Europe, hailed a recent return to like-for-like sales growth at Poundland after a hit earlier in the year from the timing of Easter.
He also gave assurances that Poundland and its other brands, such as PEPCO and Dealz across Europe, were “financially strong” as the retailer continues to distance itself from the troubles at Steinhoff.
Steinhoff was plunged into crisis last year after disclosures of irregularities linked to its 2016 accounts, becoming one of South Africa’s biggest corporate scandals. Mr Bond said: “We ended the financial year very strongly, as our key brands focused uncompromisingly on the delivery of their respective business plans.
“Poundland’s return to likefor-like growth is encouraging and the continued growth of PEPCO clearly evidences the broad appeal of their value for money proposition in existing and new markets.”