Published
Dec 14, 2021
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Pepco prospers on major European expansion drive

Published
Dec 14, 2021

To say Pepco Group is growing fast is an understatement. Opening 483 stores across Europe in just a year was the overriding reason why the owner of the Pepco, Poundland and Dealz discount retail brands produced a stellar sales numbers for the 12 months ending 31 September.


Photo: Sandra Halliday



The group, which also owns the value-priced Pep&Co fashion range, saw overall sales leap 19.4% to €4.12 billion. Underlying like-for-like sales were also “strong”, up 6.5% overall with Pepco and Poundland comp sales up 9.8% and 3.1% respectively.

Core profits (EBITDA) drove 46% higher at €647 million, in line with guidance of €640 million-€655 million, while the gross profit margin increased by 220 bps (FY21 was 42.9% versus FY20’s lower 40.7%). This was “a return to FY19 levels, driven through markdown improvements and product mix despite a backdrop of supply chain headwinds”, it said.

Pepco, which listed on the Warsaw stock market in May with a valuation of €5 billion, now operates 3,504 stores across Europe and the UK/Ireland and said that apart from its continued drive to update stores (954 store renewals completed sop far) it has a “strong” new store pipeline for 2021-22 and beyond. 

And to help finance that continued expansion, the group said it has also completed its refinancing programme to "deliver our planned growth across Europe".

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