Business at the trading group Pepco Group NV is currently not going well. In August, revenues fell short of expectations and in September the development deteriorated further, the parent company of the discounters Pepco, Poundland and Dealz admitted in an interim statement on Thursday. The company recently suffered a decline in like-for-like sales and experienced unexpectedly weak demand in the newly opened branches.
The disappointing development had personnel consequences: After the recent resignation of Group CEO Trevor Masters, the company now announced the immediate departure of Anand Patel, who most recently headed the Pepco retail chain as Managing Director.
Barry Williams moves from Poundland to head Pepco
In view of the recent underperformance, the group has taken “swift and decisive measures to realign the group’s management structure,” it said in a statement. Patel’s position was taken over by Barry Williams, the previous managing director of the discounter Poundland. Austin Cooke, who most recently served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the retail chain, moved to the top of Poundland.
The group also formed a new decision-making body. The so-called Group Executive Committee should now carry out a strategic review of all business activities. In addition to the costs, the focus would be on possible measures “that will ensure adequate income in the near future, accelerate the transformation of the group into a unified company and lead to a return to the core markets,” the company said.
Executive Chairman Andy Bond, who has been leading the Pepco Group on an interim basis since Masters’ resignation, particularly called for “more moderate growth” after the group had recently embarked on a rapid expansion course.