Poundland’s soon-to-be new owner Gordon Brothers has announced the names of more stores that are set to close, while soon-to-be ex-owner Pepco Group has called in advisers to supervise the transition.
Photo: Sandra Halliday
The company has now confirmed that 12 stores will close on 24 August. They include sites in Brigg, Canterbury, Coventry, Newcastle, Kings Heath in Birmingham, Orton Gate Shopping Centre in Peterborough, Castle Dene Shopping Centre in Peterlee, Rainham, Regent Retail Park in Salford, Sheldon, Wells, and Whitechapel in London.
The company aims to close 68 stores in total and along with lease-expiry exits, the store network should go from about 800 to around 650–700 stores. Two distribution centres will also shut.
Meanwhile as mentioned, Pepco Group, which is selling the business to Gordon Brothers after several years of underperformance, has drafted in FRP Advisory to handle the transfer of the business, according to Sky News.
It said FRP will supervise the transition that’s happening through a court-sanctioned process and that it will “act as an observer, with the High Court scheduled to sanction a restructuring plan in the last week of August”.
The report claims Pepco is “particularly focused on IT systems which Poundland uses in common with Pepco’s operations in Poland”.
That all follows Poundland’s MD Barry Williams saying back when the Gordon Brothers deal was first announced that “it’s no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track”.
And it’s clear that as well as direct action to improve Poundland’s performance, action to untangle its organisation from that of Pepco is the first big step.
