Many household disposable incomes are getting thinner and thinner as costs rise and wages remain the same. With this in mind, many people are increasingly turning to discount stores, like Poundland to get more for their money – so does this make discount stores recession proof?
Poundland have released their financial results for the year up to 1 April 2012. The results are encouraging with increases in all the right areas and a decrease in debt. During that period, the company turnover was £780 million, an increase of 21.6 per cent, when compared to the same period in 2010/11. Gross margin was up 22.2 per cent to £287.7 million and net borrowings were down by £3.9 million.
The company also opened 62 new commercial properties throughout the UK, which brings their total stores to 389. They served half a million more customers per week in the 2011/12, when compared to the previous year.
Speaking of this year’s success, Jim McCarthy, Chief Executive of Poundland, said: “Poundland continues to offer amazing value to over 4 million customers every week. Our strong sales and volume increases demonstrate that customers recognise the exceptional value for money that Poundland offers.
“Our fixed price makes it easy for families to budget as they can see how much they’ve spent, before they get to the checkout. We are excited about the year ahead as we continue our rapid expansion and hope even more customers, across the UK will be saying ‘I can’t believe it’s £1!’”
In addition to new store openings, Poundland has also recently opened a 200,000 sq. ft. distribution centre in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. These two combined have created around 2,000 new jobs this year – another factor which could add to its recession proof image.
So it seems Poundland could indeed be recession proof with record sales, new store openings and job creation. What do you think?
