Poundland, which operates the Dealz franchise in Ireland and Spain, has seen its sales rise 11.8% on a constant currency basis, breaking the £1 billion mark for the first time.
Like-for-like sales at the group were up 2.4%, while underlying EBITDA was up 9.9% to £59.4 million, according to accounts filed this morning (18 June).
In the financial year to 29 March, Poundland grew its estate by 60 net new stores, and now boasts a store count of 588 in the UK and Ireland.
"I am pleased to report a record year of sales and profit growth for Poundland,” commented Jim McCarthy, Chief Executive of Poundland. “We saw strong trading in the UK and Ireland and our international expansion plans in Spain are proceeding well, with seven multi-price Dealz stores now open.
“Notwithstanding a challenging start to the year, I expect to see a year of growth for Poundland, as we have a very strong opening programme and we will continue to be the standard bearer for genuine and amazing value on the UK's high streets and retail parks."
Commenting on the group's performance, Ken Odeluga, a senior market analyst at www.cityindex.co.uk said, "It’s notable that Poundland resorts to stating it expects that the second half of its financial year to show improvement, even though the H2 of the year before offered a much ‘easier’ comparable performance basis than the first half."
In addition, Darren Shirley of Shore Capital Stockbrokers said, “We believe Poundland has had a strong first year as a quoted company, delivering on its strategic objectives, with average number of weekly transactions up 9.2% to 5.3m, and a robust increase in average transaction size of 3.7% to £4.72.”
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is expected to rule on Poundland's proposed takeover of its rival 99p Stores in October.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news.
