Pepco to accelerate expansion plans as revenues hit €4.8bn

Poundland owner Pepco has announced that it will accelerate its expansion plans after it posted revenues of €4.8bn (£4bn) for the year ended 30 September 2022.

The discount retailer stated that it planned to have a greater focus on new stores in Western Europe and a refit programme in Central and Eastern Europe.

According to the company the investment will be funded by continued self-help improvements in operational cash flow and the strong cash profitability of its existing estate.

Other headline figures from the results include a 5.2% increase in like-for-like sales and 14.3% rise in annual core earnings. This growth was spurred on by the opening of 516 new stores.

Trevor Masters, CEO Pepco Group, said: “Despite industry-wide short-term challenges, Pepco Group delivered another year of good progress and resilient trading performance, driven by our successful and proven strategy. We accelerated our profitable store expansion programme – our biggest source of value creation – and store refit strategy, helping to enhance our LFL performance.

“Historically, we have been focused on maximising the returns at each of our operating companies to grow and serve our customers. As we turn to the next chapter of Pepco Group’s growth story, we are increasingly focused on leveraging the scale and diversity of the great business we have built in order to unlock the potential of the group as a whole, by combining the impressive strengths and capabilities of each of the brands we operate.”