The retail group Pepco Group NV will focus on a slimmer portfolio in the future.
On Thursday, as part of its capital market day, the company said that the board of directors is currently actively “all strategic options” for separation from the Poundland retail chain during the current financial year. It is therefore conceivable, among other things, a sale of the discounter, which recently suffered considerable loss of sales.
“Poundland is a strong brand that serves millions of customers every week and has achieved annual turnover of around two billion euros in the 2023/24 financial year, but is also active in the increasingly difficult British retail environment in which the conditions further tighten,” said the group. “From April 2025, the additional tax changes announced by the British government in the budget will continue to put the cost base of Poundland under pressure.”
In the future, the group of companies wants to concentrate entirely on its core brand Pepco
The group’s strategic goal is to concentrate entirely on the core brand Pepco in the future. In the past few months, attempts have been made to integrate the three current Pepco, Poundland and Dealz division more to create a “simpler business model”, the company explained. In the meantime, however, it has proven that this project did not deliver the desired results for the customers: inside and shareholders: inside.
CEO Stephan Borchert is now also heading the Pepco chain
The focus on the discounter Pepco was also underlined by a personnel decision. Stephan Borchert, who has headed the overall group as CEO since last summer, will now also have the chain Pepco, the retailer said. Barry Williams, who has been at the head of Pepco since autumn 2023, therefore returned to his previous post as General Manager of Poundland.
The Group wants to continue the Polish retail chain Dealz in order to optimize its value. However, “strategic options” including a sale would also be checked for Dealz in the medium term, according to a statement.