The boss of Pepco Goup —which operates the Dealz, Poundland and Pepco discount stores across Europe — said it was “inevitable” that its troubled South African owner Steinhoff would put it up for sale. Steinhoff, which owns the Pepco stores in continental Europe and the Dealz-Poundland stores in Ireland and the UK, has been struggling to recover from a 2017 accounting scandal. Dealz owns around 70 stores in the Republic, while the discount group retailer has been growing rapidly by opening stores in Poland, as well as expanding in Spain, and driving the Pepco name into Europe. It also expects to open around 300 Pepco stores in the year. “The mainland European Dealz business continues to develop positively, building the necessary confidence in both the customer proposition and the business model economics to commence a store roll-out programme,” it said.

Source: Irish Examiner February 05, 2020 17:26 UTC