Gordon Brothers buys UK's Poundland, to invest up to $108.5 million in revival

(Reuters) -Investment firm Gordon Brothers has acquired Pepco Group's struggling Poundland business for a nominal value and will invest up to 80 million pounds ($108.5 million) to help fuel its turnaround, the companies said on Thursday.

Pepco has been weighing options for the more than 800-store British discount retailer since December, and last month warned that a potential sale would result in meagre proceeds as the business is struggling in "challenging trading conditions."

The sale "marks an important milestone in our strategic plan to move away from FMCG and focus predominantly on Pepco, our higher margin clothing and general merchandise business," Pepco Group CEO Stephan Borchert said in a statement.

Poundland has been a fixture on British high streets since its founding in 1990 and became a popular destination for value shopping, offering items ranging from cosmetics to food and home décor to stationery — all originally priced at one pound.

Though it formally moved away from the one pound-only model in 2019, its revenue has struggled to pick up, with first-half sales slipping 7.3% and leading Pepco to book an impairment charge of 234 million euros ($269.4 million).

($1 = 0.7374 pounds)

($1 = 0.8687 euros) 

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)