// Pepco Group, owner of Poundland, Dealz and PEPCO said demand for its products remains strong even against the backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty
// Like-for-like sales rose 5.2% and were up 15.5% in September
Like-for-like revenues at Poundland rose 2.6% in the year to the end of September to £1.87 billion as group revenues spiked by 5.2% to €4.82 billion, partly driven by 516 new stores. Like-for-like sales also jumped 15.5% in September, providing a strong exit rate into the new financial year.
New store growth increased by 7.1%, boosted by 70 new openings during the period.
The discount giant said that following a successful rollout in Spain it would now be trialling a small number of Pepco-branded stores in the Republic of Ireland.
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Pepco said in its core markets of Poland, Hungary and Romania inflation in clothing and footwear was running at only around a third of the headline inflation rate.
Both clothing and food remain resilient categories in the Polish and wider Central and Eastern Europe retail sector, the company said, adding that the outlook across the UK remains “challenging” as constraints on consumers’ disposable income persist.
Pepco Group chief executive Trevor Masters 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.”
“As a result of our continued focus on driving progress under our key strategic pillars, we remain confident of our ability to continue to grow our EBITDA, in line with our historic run-rate, in the absence of any further deterioration of macro-economic trading conditions,”
“We will continue to drive our business using our four key strategic levers – bigger, better, simpler and cheaper. This strategy is driving faster growth through accelerated store openings and innovation to improve each store for customers and colleagues, helping to further enhance our like-for-like performance.”
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