The trading group Pepco Group NV closed the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year with a sales record. The parent company of the discounters Pepco, Dealz and Poundland only owed its strong growth to the numerous new branches it opened in recent months.
On Thursday, the group of companies announced that it achieved sales of 1.87 billion euros in the period from October to December. This means that revenues exceeded the level of the previous year’s quarter by 10.8 percent after adjusting for currency effects and reached a new record level. However, like-for-like sales fell short of the previous year’s level by 2.3 percent. During the quarter, the group expanded its branch network from 4,629 to 4,832 locations.
Thanks to rapid expansion over the past twelve months, the Pepco chain’s quarterly sales rose by 14.5 percent to 1.18 billion euros after adjusting for currency effects. However, like-for-like, it shrank by 3.7 percent. Poundland’s revenues increased currency-adjusted by 3.1 percent to 596 million euros (like-for-like +0.9 percent), Dealz achieved a currency-adjusted increase of 41.8 percent to 89 million euros (like-for-like -4.6 percent).
CEO Andy Bond was satisfied with the “robust” results. The like-for-like sales trend improved in Pepco’s core Central and Eastern European markets during the quarter, and the group also managed to increase its gross margin compared to the same period last year, he said in a statement. Management announced last fall that it would slow down the pace of expansion and focus more on profitability.