// Poundland & Dealz owner Pepco Group sees a 12% rise in its quarterly total revenue, driven by new store openings
// During the period, Poundland’s like-for-like sales rose by 1.5% as the retailer introduced range improvements
Pepco Group, the owner of PEPCO, Poundland, and Dealz discount retailer brands in Europe saw its total group revenue climb by 12% year-on-year in its first quarter which was its strongest ever period for new store openings.
Sales at Pepco rose 20% with growth driven by 161 store openings including 146 Pepco stores and 15 Dealz stores.
During the period, Poundland’s like-for-like sales rose by 1.5% as the retailer introduced range improvements in general merchandise and clothing, expanded its multi-price penetration to 41.5%, and introduced a new chilled and frozen offer to a further 52 stores.
READ MORE: Poundland to roll out frozen foods to 100 more stores
Meanwhile, PEPCO’s like-for-likes were flat due to trading being impacted by supply chain disruption and the widening of Covid-19 restrictions across some of its markets. However, total sales rose by 20%.
Commenting on the results, Pepco Group chief executive Andy Bond said: “It is particularly pleasing that despite the supply chain and demand challenges presented by Covid, which impacted trading across the peak season, the strength of the consumer proposition of all three of our brands ensured that we delivered a resilient trading performance.
“We believe that the supply chain pressures that impacted our first quarter will now subside. However, given the broader inflationary pressures faced by our core consumer, we are committed to supporting them by preserving the majority of our existing price points and therefore strengthening our price leadership position.”
“While Covid continues to present a potential downside risk to both consumer demand and product supply, at this point of the year and having navigated our most important trading quarter we remain committed to our existing full year profit guidance,” Bond added.
Bond, who is due to step down as chief executive following seven years in the role, said: “I will leave at the end of March confident that we have a clear growth plan and strong capability to deliver our long term-term profit growth aspirations, both this year and well into the future.”
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