Poundland full year profits to be in line with expectations
Poundland has said it expects its full year underlying pre-tax profits to be in line with expectations despite the “difficult” market conditions it faced in its fourth quarter.
In the 13 weeks to 27 March, total sales, excluding Spain, increased by 29.5% on a constant currency basis as the retailer benefited from the addition of the 99p Stores’ portfolio. On an actual currency basis, sales rose by 29.8% to £330.8 million.
Poundland said it had been a tough quarter for its core business, which was impacted by difficult market conditions and disruption from the accelerated pace of delivery of the 99p Stores’ conversion programme. This is due to complete at the end of April.
The results means that total sales, excluding Spain, increased by 18.4% on a constant currency basis in the full year to 27 March. On an actual currency basis, sales increased by 17.9%.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales decreased by 3.9% after falling by 4.9% in the second half.
Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy said: “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.
“The 99p Stores’ conversion programme will complete by the end of April, at which point we expect to see the significant benefits of over 900 stores trading as one cohesive retail operation begin to materialise.”
