Poundland still coining it as sales rise

Shoppers still love a bargain, Poundland showed today as the discount chain produced strong sales growth while supermarket rivals struggle.

The recently floated everything-a-pound retailer revealed sales of £997.8 million for the year to April, up 13.3% from a year earlier. It didn’t give like-for-like sales but its broker expected them to be slightly up on the 1.4% unveiled at its third-quarter update.

Chief executive Jim McCarthy said: “Customers are voting with their wallets and purses. Shoppers look for value — quality and price — and the behaviours acquired in the past five years are sticking.”

Shares in Poundland, which listed in March at 300p, today rose 25p to 339p. The retailer is expanding into Spain under a format called Dealz. It has 528 stores in the UK, and plans to open 60 a year more in Britain and Ireland.