Poundland sales top £1billion as discount stores continue to take on the big supermarkets
DISCOUNT store Poundland has broken through the £1billion sales mark for the first time, as recession-era shopping habits remain entrenched in Britain.
The single-price store has steadily taken customers from the UK's biggest four supermarkets. It experienced a rise in spending at the end of last year and sales in the 13 weeks to March 29 grew 7.1 percent.
The chief executive Jim McCarthy said it expected to meet full-year profit expectations when they are announced next month. Analysts are on average forecasting a pretax profit for 2014-15 of £44 million.
Poundland has 547 UK stores and plans to grow its presence through further openings and a takeover of 99p stores.
However, the Competition and Markets Authority has poured cold water over the planned purchase of Poundland's rival. It's likely that it will have to sell some stores before being given the go ahead.
[Addtional reporting by Reuters]