Poundland says it is on track to meet profit expectations despite accelerating like-for-like sales fall
Poundland believes it is on track to meet profit expectations despite its like-for-like sales fall accelerating.
The figures
In the year to 27 March 2016, like-for-like sales decreased by 3.9 per cent. The fall was steeper – 4.9 per cent – in the second half of the year.
In the fourth quarter, Poundland reported a sales growth of 29.8 per cent, largely thanks to extra income from 99p Stores, which it acquired last year.
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Poundland said it had converted 190 99p Stores by the end of the fourth quarter and the programme, it said, will finish the process this month.
Poundland expects underlying pre-tax profit, before 99p trading losses, to be broadly in line with current market expectations, between £35.8m and £41.5m.
Why it's interesting
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Poundland said the fourth quarter was “tough” for its core business, affected “by difficult market conditions and disruption from the accelerated pace of delivery of the 99p Stores' conversion programme”.
The retailer said it had finished the year with 906 stores, up from 593, including 843 in the UK, 53 in Ireland and 10 in Spain. Poundland will this year concentrate on “extracting value” from its existing stores and will open fewer this year.
Last month it was announced that former B&Q boss Kevin O'Byrne will replace Jim McCarthy as chief executive as his retires after 10 years in the role.
What the company said
Chief executive Jim McCarthy
Against a tough retail background, this has been a transformative year for Poundland, strengthening further our position as Europe's biggest single-price discounter. We have added over 300 shops to our portfolio in the UK & Ireland, in particular in the South of England, substantially increasing our geographical reach and scale.