Poundland has no plans to revert all prices to £1, Pepco boss says

Coronavirus – Fri Jan 8, 2021

Poundland won’t be going back to its pre 2019 pledge to sell all items for £1 any time soon, its boss has confirmed.

Pepco, a £5billion Polish company, owns the high street chain which started selling products between 50p and £5 five years ago. It has not confirmed any lowering of prices.

The Standard reported in 2021 that economic conditions had led the retailer to price one in ten products at more than £1 – although some were now less than the figure.

Andy Bond, the executive chairman of Pepco, told the Times on Thursday that prices across the group had increased by a single-digit percentage over the past two to three years.

He said: “Now that we’re into a period where costs have gone down somewhat, the first thing we’re happy to do is to recover our margins, but we can do that without putting prices up.

“I don’t see any degree of inflation in our business over the next 12 months.”

He added: “While there is easing pressure in some parts of the business, I’m not sure that prices will necessarily go down.”

Pepco has committed to keeping prices “as low as possible” and said that it has continued to provide low prices despite taking a hit during the pandemic.

Poundland has 864 locations across the UK. Pepco has been among firms affected by freight delays after ships were re-routed away from the Red Sea due to attacks from Houthi rebels.

Pepco has appointed Stephan Borchert to become its next chief executive from July 1, the experienced businessman having most recently been in charge of operations at Vision Express.

The Polish company bought Poundland in 2000 from self-starter Steve Smith, who launched the first shop in Midlands town Burton ten years prior.

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