STEINHOFF UNIT PEPCO OPENS STORES AT A PRODIGIOUS RATE IN CENTRAL EUROPE

STEINHOFF subsidiary Pepco Group, a pan-European variety discount retailer, made good progress on its strategy to open new stores and grow trading in its first half. The retailer that owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe and Poundland in the UK said in an update yesterday that first-half revenue to March 31 grew 17.3 percent to €2.371 billion (R38.55bn), led by Pepco, which grew turnover 28.9 percent. It was on track to meet guidance for the year. On the strategy front, “significant” new store expansion continued across all trading brands. Openings were ahead of guidance, with 235 net new stores opened in the half-year, excluding the impact of 43 Fulton’s stores closed following the acquisition. In total 586 store renewals were completed year-to-date. “Considering the global disruption faced by our business, we have maintained our focus on our strategic priorities, in particular our new store growth and our continued re-fit programme,” interim chief executive Trevor Masters said. Pepco opened 202 new stores in the first half, including 84 in Austria, Italy and Spain, where initial performance was strong. Poundland Group opened 33 net new stores, an increase of 6.7 year-on-year. Group like-for-like revenue grew 5.3 percent due to strong growth in like-for-like store growth in the second quarter in particular, of 12.1 percent. Pepco’s like-forlike growth came to 18.5 percent in the second quarter, bringing the average to 7.2 percent for the first half. Poundland grew like-for-like revenue by 5.9 percent in the second quarter and 3.3 percent for the half-year. “Half-year underlying Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is anticipated to be within a range of €342 million to €350m.” Masters said by the end of the first half, Covid-19 restrictions had eased, and March exit like-for-like growth of 19.4 percent supported confidence for the second half. He said the market was likely to remain volatile, predominantly due to the invasion of Ukraine, a country that borders three of the group’s largest operating territories. The group and its staff had donated funds to two charities to provide relief directly to the people of Ukraine. |