Poundland sees strong sales as cost crunch fuels demand

Poundland has notched up a hike in sales due to surging demand from cash-strapped shoppers in the cost-of-living crisis.

Owner Pepco said Poundland sales rose 2% on a like-for-like basis over its third quarter to June 30, with revenues up 3.8% at 507 million euros (£429 million).

Poundland sales jumped 5.6% on a comparison with three years ago before the pandemic struck.

Pepco – which has nearly 900 stores across the UK and Ireland and also owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe – has pledged to keep a tight lid on its own business costs to help keep prices low and maintain its discount offering despite soaring inflation.

It said: “With inflationary pressures continuing across the wider market, the group is committed to investing in its price proposition and maintaining its market-leading variety discount offering.

“The group’s continued focus on reducing the cost of operations is enabling us to maintain our price leadership.

“Against this backdrop, we are encouraged that the discount market across Europe is now much larger than at the time of the previous financial crisis in 2007-08, which means that a much larger customer base is more familiar with and more frequently shops across this channel.”

Its results show total group-wide sales lifted 4.9% on a like-for-like basis to 1.2 billion euros (£1 billion) over the quarter, with growth driven by Pepco, where sales jumped 7.3%.

The group is on track to launch 450 new stores in the year to the end of September.