Although the outcome of the summer-long competition authorities’ inquiry of its purchase of 99p Stores was as favourable as it could have been, the market did not like Poundland’s update on trading.
The deal to buy the family-owned 99p for £55 million was announced in February. Because of the way these things work, Poundland was prohibited from gaining any new information about 99p, including how the summer trading went, until the Competition & Markets Authority had concluded its investigation last week.
Once the books were available again, Poundland found that its target’s financial position had “weakened somewhat”. Some suppliers had become cautious about providing more product, which meant that the range in the stores during the summer was limited.
Poundland insists that this does