Poundland venduto per meno di £ 1

Archive link: https://archive.ph/P8kzK

>UK discount retailer Poundland has been sold for less than £1 to US private equity group Gordon Brothers, as its Warsaw-listed owner moves away from selling low-margin consumer goods.

>Pepco Group said it had sold the struggling retailer for a nominal consideration — or €1 (85p), according to a person familiar with the deal — and at least £30mn in debt, plus a potential further £30mn loan to be extended by Pepco on completion of Poundland’s proposed restructuring plan.

>It said Poundland would be led by Barry Williams, its current managing director.
Gordon Brothers said it would provide up to £80mn “to support the management team’s proposed restructuring and turnaround plan”.

>Pepco said its sale of the 825-store chain would allow it to focus on its higher-margin clothing and general merchandise business in Europe.

>It gave no details of Poundland’s restructuring plan, which is subject to approval by England’s High Court.

Call it Poundland, then years later nothing inside is even £1. What could possibly go wrong….

When Poundland started with a small number of stores there were some genuine bargains in there – that’s because they managed to pick up stock that wholesalers wanted rid of, such as close to expiry date, overstocks, low selling lines, etc.

Then they expanded to 825 stores and there isn’t sufficient of that stock available so they are just selling the same stock as every other discount retailer sells – except Poundland stores are tiny and have a limited range compared to places like B&M that sell pretty much the same AND more.

And whatever the turnover plan is they are lumbered with a name that indicates stuff is sold for less than £1 and people get miffed when it isn’t, so do they dump the name?

Will Poundland survive or will there be a whole new load of empty stores on High Streets – I wouldn’t be betting my money on it having a long term future.

Should have renamed themselves Bargain Land. Any business title with the word ‘Pound’ in it was going to suffer after years of rampant inflation.