Poundland reports 5% decline in sales

Poundland's parent company, Steinhoff, has issued a trading update, covering the nine months ended 30th June.

Unaudited figures show that Poundland experienced a 5% drop in sales (3% in constant currencies) to €1,324m during the reporting period, on the back of approximately 60 store closures in the comparative period.

The stores closed over competition concerns following Poundland's acquisition of rival discounter, 99p Stores, in 2015.

Like-for-like sales recovered across the whole quarter to marginally positive after being initially impacted in April by an early Easter.

Overall, the business achieved total like-for-like sales of +1.7% in the period under review, outperforming the wider UK market where footfall ranged between +0.2% to -6.0%.

This sales momentum has strengthened even further in the first two months of the fourth quarter. The roll-out of PEP&CO shop-in-shops has continued, with an additional 175 sites added in the period under review (total of 274 at 30 June 2018), including the completion of the programme in the Republic of Ireland.

Performance of Poundland stores with a shop-in-shop has been strong at +7.7% like-for-like sales in the period under review, significantly higher than the chain average.

Dealz

The European Dealz businesses in Spain and Poland continue to develop well with the launch of three clothing shop-in-shops in Spain that are supplied by PEPCO and two further stores added to the Dealz Poland trial.

Source : Insight DIY and Steinhoff

Image : James W Copeland / Shutterstock.com

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