Pepco Group, the owner of the PEPCO and Dealz brands in Europe and Poundland in the UK, has posted another set of strong trading figures, boosted by new store openings and robust underlying sales.
In the three months to 31 December, the group’s revenues jumped 27% on a constant currency basis to €1.65bn.
Overall like-for-like sales grew 13.0%, with PEPCO up 19.7% and Poundland growing 4.4% as cash-strapped shoppers flocked to the group’s value-orientated stores.
The company stated that it delivered record trading days in the quarter across all its brands following a “very successful” Christmas trading period that outperformed the wider market.
The Pepco Group opened 105 net new stores during the quarter, taking the total to 4,066 (3,025 Pepco, 1,041 Poundland/Dealz).
During the quarter, the group completed 37 store renewals at Poundland, where it is continuing its Diamond refit programme with the addition of chilled and frozen food.
The company noted that it had performed particularly well in Western Europe, especially in Italy and in Spain. It is now planning to launch in Portugal in spring 2023.
Pepco expects trading conditions to remain “challenging” but highlighted the structural advantages of its discount customer proposition.
“Assuming the macro trading environment performs as we expect, we remain on track for another year of consistent performance, with an increased store opening target and robust underlying like-for-like for Pepco, Poundland and Dealz Poland,” it said.
Trevor Masters, CEO of Pepco Group, commented: “We had a very successful Christmas trading period with record trading days at each of our brands, as we continued to outperform the wider market across Europe. We benefitted from re-building our stock to appropriate levels, enabling us to satisfy the strong demand that we experienced.”
He added: “We are increasingly focused on leveraging the scale and diversity of the great business we have built to unlock the potential of the Group as a whole, by combining the impressive strengths and capabilities of each of the brands we operate. Whilst the market environment continues to be challenging, we remain confident in the strength of our customer proposition and our price leadership position, as well as our ability to deliver against our strategic growth priorities.”
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