New stores and online plans for Poundland
Willenhall-headquartered discount retailer Poundland says it hopes to sell its homeware, fancy dress and party items online within two years. It comes as the retailer reported an 81.5 per cent rise in full year operating profits in the summer to £21.5m.
It said: "Trading figures demonstrate strong and sustained growth, maintaining its track record of delivering consistent like for like growth across the economic cycle."
Poundland, which was recently acquired by Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm, says it also plans to open a further 50 new stores in 2010/11, creating an additional 2,000 jobs. Online plans were also revealed but not everything is expected to trade on the internet due to postage costs.
Chief executive Jim McCarthy said: “Our latest results show that consumers from all income brackets are savvy enough to shop with us to save money from their shopping budget.
“We have added more branded products to our ranges and with these Poundland now offers over 1,000 top brands to complement the overall range of 3,000 products, to give consumers an even greater incentive to shop with us.
“With the economic uncertainty continuing, we are seeing many more first time shoppers joining our existing loyal customer base and with this trend set to continue, I remain confident of our prospects for the current financial year.”
The results, for the year ending 28 March 2010, showed operating profit of £21.5m- up 81.5 per cent (2008/9 £11.8m. Turnover was £509.8, (net of VAT) - up 28.7 per cent (2008/9 £396.2m).
