Pepco Group, the fast-growing pan-European variety discount retailer and owner of the PEPCO and Dealz brands in Europe and Poundland in the UK, has today announced the signature of a framework agreement between Pepco Poland (“PEPCO”) and CCC Austria for the acquisition of up to 29 store leases in Austria.
Following the announcement in April that PEPCO was making preparations for launch in Austria, the framework agreement provides the PEPCO brand with an immediate nationwide footprint of stores in proven locations which fit the PEPCO store model across Austria. Subject to the fulfilment of the following conditions the assignments are expected to be completed by the end of September 2021, allowing the stores to trade throughout the important fourth calendar quarter;
- completion of the legal and operational due diligence process of lease agreements;
- obtaining the required corporate approvals for the assignment of all or selected lease agreements and;
- obtaining consents of landlords to CCC Austria.
Austria would represent the 17th territory for the Group and the 15th for the PEPCO brand, following the successful recent openings and customer reception of PEPCO in both Italy and Spain being the brands initial western European markets. The planned entry into Austria is a further indication of the Group’s pan-European ambitions and follows substantial customer and market research which provided confidence on the success of the proposition beyond its core markets of Central Europe where PEPCO has over 2,200 stores in 14 countries.
The overall Group, including the Poundland and Dealz brands, currently trades in 16 countries across Europe operating more than 3,200 stores in total.
Andy Bond, Pepco Group CEO, said: “Following PEPCO’s successful launch in both Italy and Spain, the signing of this agreement is a further statement of our confidence in the compelling proposition that we believe PEPCO brings to customers across the entirety of Europe.
“We are confident that the combination of market leading prices, product quality and choice that PEPCO is famous for combined with the high quality stores we are acquiring will prove a winning combination to our new customers in Austria, as a key part of our ambitious plans to become Europe’s pre-eminent discount variety retailer.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Company Enquiries:
Mat Ankers, Director of Investor Relations +44 (0) 7860 518 472
Nick Wharton, Group CFO +44 (0) 203 735 9210
Media Enquiries:
Finsbury:
Rollo Head +44 (0) 7768 994 987
James Thompson +44 (0) 7947 796 965
Notes to Editors
Pepco Group
Pepco Group was established in 2015 and comprises two strong, independent value retailers – PEPCO and Poundland, which also trades internationally under the Dealz brand, together with a global sourcing arm, PGS, an integral part of both operating companies. Together PEPCO and Poundland operate across some of Europe’s largest economies. Pepco Group now has c 3,200 stores in 16 countries including the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and across the CEE region, employing c. 35,000 people. The Group successfully listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in May 2021.
About PEPCO
After more than 14 years of continuous growth, PEPCO now serves over 20 million customers a month, offering apparel for the whole family, household goods and toys at the lowest prices. With its Head Office in Poznan in Poland, the company has around 17,000 employees in 14 different countries in across Europe, with the largest footprints in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Czech Republic.
The first 14 PEPCO shops opened in Poland in 2004. PEPCO expanded into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2013 and between 2015 and 2017 opened in Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia. In the three-month period under review the company has opened 87 net new stores in total across the PEPCO estate.
PEPCO is widely recognised as one of Poland’s strongest brands and most dynamic companies. It has regularly won the Forbes’ Diamond Award as one of the country’s fastest-growing companies and the Superbrand Award for quality and trust among Polish consumers.
About Poundland
Since opening its first store in Burton-upon-Trent in 1990, Poundland, has built a network of 917* stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, offering top brands and great quality own brand products, that provide customers with amazing value every day.
Nominated by Retail Week as Value Discounter of the Year 2019, it now has c.18,000 colleagues who serve over seven million customers every week from Wick to Weymouth, Londonderry to Lowestoft and Holyhead to Hastings.
Poundland offers thousands of quality products in store with over 1,000 well-known brands in 17 shopping categories including food and drink, health and beauty, household, gardening, DIY, Pet, Stationery, Books, DVDs and Toys. Around nine in ten items at Poundland are available at its original £1 price point and over the last 12 months it has built out new ranges by introducing items from 50 up to £10 that are underpinned by the same philosophy of simplicity and amazing value.
Poundland also trades internationally through the Dealz brand with a building store base in both Poland and Spain. Within the UK it has also rolled out its fashion brand PEP&CO to approximately 300 of its larger stores. PEP&CO offers customers a full range of women’s, men’s and kids’ fashion and bringing new style to Poundland with simple low pricing on family fashion that’s hard to find on local high streets. PEP&CO has been nominated in the 2019 Retail Week Awards as Private Label of The Year.
*include Fultons stores.