Poundland confirms London stock flotation

Poundland has confirmed it plans to launch on the London Stock Exchange later in the year.

A flotation has long been rumoured for the budget retailer, which announced it is going to offer shares to institutional investors.

The majority of the firm is currently owned by Warburg Pincus, which has a 76 per cent stake in the company, while the remainder of the shares are held by senior management.

"The value retail sector has been through a period of profound change in scale, customer perception and financial performance," said Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy.

New board appointments have also been announced by the company as it revealed its plans for a flotation on the London Stock Exchange, including the addition to the board of former Carpetright and Sainsbury's executive Darren Shapland.

Successful growth

Poundland is one of the UK retail sector's biggest success stories of the last few years and the company now has almost 500 stores in the UK, as well as running 31 stores in Ireland under the Dealz brand.

Mr McCarthy noted 22 per cent of the firm's UK customers now come from the AB demographic. He said: "We have built a track record of delivering strong, profitable growth and I believe we have many more opportunities ahead, underpinned by our trusted brand, strong supplier relationships, differentiated value proposition and our well-invested and scalable infrastructure."

Towards the end of last year, Poundland announced a 15 per cent rise in total sales to £880 million for the 12 months to the end of March and revealed that it is aiming to have a total of 1,000 stores in the UK as it continues its aggressive expansion plans in the coming months.

Poundland's financial results indicated that its pre-tax profit before exceptional items was up 29 per cent to £23.1 million and the data also showed that its stores served 4.5 million customers each week in the 12 months to March.

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