Pepco Group posts strong H1 revenue, profit growth

Discount retailer Pepco Group has reaffirmed its full-year guidance after reporting strong revenue and profit growth in the first half of the year.

In the six months to March 31, revenue increased 18.9 percent year-on-year to 2.372 billion euros.

The group, which owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe as well as Poundland in the UK, said like-for-like sales in the first half were up 5.3 percent, boosted by 12.1 percent growth in the second quarter.

Pepco Group’s underlying profit before tax increased 28.5 percent to 144 million euros, while its underlying EBITDA was up 7.3 percent to 347 million euros.

Based on the strong earnings, the group said it remains on track to meet guidance for the full year.

Trevor Masters, who in April was appointed as Pepco Group’s new CEO, told investors Thursday: “We are proud of the group’s performance in the first half of this year and the strategic progress made across the business.

“Despite a challenging macro environment, we accelerated our strategy, including our store opening programme, which remains the key driver of value creation for the business.”

Masters said it was encouraging to see the “strong return” of customers to stores as pandemic restrictions eased. He said that progress has continued into the third quarter and has resulted in the group’s like-for-like sales rising above pre-Covid levels for the comparable period three years ago.