Poundland owner reports Q1 sales drop

Pepco Group, which owns brands such as Poundland in the UK, has reported a like-for-like sales decline of 2.1% in its first quarter due to lockdown restrictions resulting in store closures across the country.

Despite this fall in sales, trading stores that were open for the full duration of any week performed positively over the period with like-for-like growth of 5.5%.

Poundland and Dealz stores, which remained opened over the period, saw like-for-likes sales growth of 4.3% during the first quarter, despite a lack of footfall.

Andy Bond, CEO of Pepco Group, said: “It is pleasing that once again our disciplined adherence to our clear growth strategy combined with a focus on day-to-day retail execution has allowed us to successfully navigate a turbulent trading environment.

“Our revenue performance clearly signals the strength of each of our retail brands and customer offers and our resilience to short-term Covid disruption.”

He added: “We anticipate that the consumer backdrop will remain challenging in the short-term. However, with our established growth strategy, centred on significant future store expansion within a structurally advantaged discount retail segment, and strong financial base, we believe that our future growth opportunity is greater than a year ago.

“Accordingly, we remain confident about our prospects for continued growth across Europe in the balance of the financial year and beyond.”