Poundland posts sales of 1 1bn

Poundland has smashed through the £1 billion barrier in terms of annual sales.

The budget retailer announced total sales of £1.1 billion from its stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland, representing an 11.8 per cent increase on the same period 12 months earlier. Like-for-like revenues grew by 2.4 per cent in the year to March 29th, discounting the impact of new stores.

Poundland has been rapidly expanding over the past year, opening 60 new stores across its UK and Irish operation. It is now looking to purchase rival discount chain 99p Stores which will create a much larger discount chain.

Jim McCarthy, chief executive of Poundland, said: "Despite tough trading conditions, Poundland continues to perform well and we served an average of 5.3 million shoppers a week during the fourth quarter.

"We have managed our costs and cash well, and we expect underlying pre-tax profits to be in line with market expectations for the year as a whole."

Poundland has made a huge amount of progress from the previous year's total of £997.8 million and pushing past the £1 billion mark represents a significant milestone for the company's operations. Following the announcement, Poundland's share price grew by 1.67 per cent and stood at 337.56 as of 10:26 BST on Tuesday (April 14th).

99p Stores takeover

Poundland is looking to purchase rival 99p Stores in a deal worth around £55 million but the deal has come under scrutiny. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to launch an investigation into the proposed transaction after initial probe found that it could worsen the position for shopper in local areas.

The CMA believes that if it is rubber stamped then it could affect around 80 areas adding that there was "a realistic prospect of substantial lessening of competition" if the deal was agreed.