Poundland reveals plans to float in March

Poundland is set to rub shoulders with the likes of Marks & Spencer and Tesco as it plans to list shares on the London Stock Exchange in March.

The partial sales of equity to institutional investors is expected to value the discount retailer at between £700 million and £800 million.

American private equity firm Warburg Pincus owns 76% of Poundland, with the balance owned by the retailer's management, led by Chief Executive Jim McCarthy, a 30-year veteran of the retail sector.

Poundland joins a surge of store groups seeking flotations as the outlook for consumer spending improves. Russian hypermarket chain Lenta, newsagent and convenience store McColl's and online domestic appliances retailer AO, have all announced intentions to float in recent weeks.

Pets at Home, Fat Face, House of Fraser and Boohoo.com are also expected to come to market later this year, seeking to capitalise from the UK's gradually improving economy.

Discount retailers outperformed the market in the economic downturn as consumers, battling inflation rising faster than wages, sought to make savings.

Poundland made underlying earnings of £45.4 million in the year to March 31, up from £39.3 million in the previous year. Revenue rose 15% to £880 million.

Last month the firm posted record Christmas sales as its offer of over 3,000 products and over 1,000 branded goods from firms such as Cadbury, Heinz, Coca Cola and Kodak - all at the price of £1 - found favour with consumers.

Poundland is targeting a doubling of its British stores to more than 1,000 as well as further international expansion after a profitable first full year of trading at the firm's multi-price format Dealz business in Ireland, with Spain next on the list.

The firm, which is chaired by former Tesco finance director Andrew Higginson, also said it had strengthened its board, with trading director Richard Lancaster named as an executive director and four independent non-executive directors appointed, including former Carpetright CEO Darren Shapland.