The retail group Pepco Group NV achieved strong growth in sales and earnings in the first half of the 2021/22 financial year. The company benefited in particular from the gradual easing of corona protection measures and numerous new openings.
“We are proud of the group’s results for the first half of the year and the strategic advances that have been made across the business,” said CEO Trevor Masters in an interim statement published on Thursday. “Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, we have accelerated our strategy, including our store opening program, which remains the key driver of the company’s value creation.” Given the recent successes, the retailer is now looking to further increase its pace of expansion: For the current fiscal year, there are now around 450 in total New openings planned.
In the months of October to March, group sales amounted to EUR 2.37 billion, which corresponds to an increase of 18.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Adjusted for exchange rate changes, revenues grew by 17.2 percent. In addition to the expansion of the branch network by 235 locations since the beginning of the current financial year, an improvement in like-for-like sales (+5.3 percent) contributed to the significant increase.
The growth driver was the Polish retail chain Pepco, which recently expanded in a targeted manner in Western Europe and opened its first German branch in April. Sales in the Pepco division increased by 26.1 percent (currency-adjusted +28.7 percent) to 1.28 billion euros compared to the same period last year. Like-for-like sales increased by 7.2 percent. In the Poundland Group segment, sales grew by 11.4 percent (currency-adjusted +6.0 percent) to 1.09 billion euros.
Higher freight costs slowed down profit growth: Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by only 7.3 percent to 347.2 million euros. Reported net profit for the first half of the year was EUR 94.9 million, 40.0 percent above the corresponding level of the previous year.