Poundland owner Pepco picks Warsaw over London for stock market float

The owner of Poundland has announced plans to list its shares in Warsaw instead of London, in its multibillion-pound stock market float.

Pepco, which also runs the Pep&Co and Dealz brands, had previously said that it was considering stock exchanges in the UK and Poland.

The move comes despite a jump in London listings in 2021, including the likes of Deliveroo, Dr Martens and Moonpig, as the UK economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic.

The listing price and total valuation has not yet been disclosed, although it is reported by Sky to be worth about £4 billion.

Pepco trades from 3,246 stores across 16 European countries, including more than 1,000 stores in Poland.

The listing comes almost two years after South African owner Steinhoff started assessing options for the retail group following the fallout of its own 2017 accounting scandal.

Steinhoff has said it will sell at least 15% of its shares in the company, which is run by former Asda chief executive Andy Bond.

Mr Bond told the PA news agency that floating in Warsaw made sense as it “is our home”, hailing the move as an “exciting time”.

“Poland is where this business started in 2004 and is still our biggest market,” he said.

“It is too early to say exactly what sort of investor response we will get but we are confident in our growth plans.

“Our value proposition is strong and can see that customers are really keen to ensure they are getting the best they can at great prices at the minute.”

Last week the group confirmed plans to enter the Spanish market under its Pepco brand, as it continues to expand across the continent.

Mr Bond said: “Today’s announcement of our intention to float on the Warsaw stock exchange marks an important milestone for the group.

“We are strongly positioned to deliver significant long-term growth, given our market leading customer proposition in the most attractive sector of retail, the scale of opportunity ahead of us as we expand across the entirety of Europe and the investment in strengthening the infrastructure of the business over recent years.

“We have a track record of delivering consistent, market-leading sales and profit growth over the past three years, the foundation for which is a relentless focus on how we provide our customers with the lowest prices on their regular shopping needs across apparel, homewares-led general merchandise and fast-moving consumer goods, week in week out.”