Poundland plans to add branded loaves to its growing number of grocery products but is waiting to see how wheat market ­turmoil will affect prices.

As commodity price hikes threaten to increase the price of a loaf by as much as 10p, Poundland wants to see whether it will still be able to sell the product at its £1 price point.

The variety store has added several convenience grocery products, such as sandwiches, ham, cheese and bacon in the past year.

Its two litres of Wiseman milk is now one of its best selling lines even though it has not yet been rolled out to all its stores.

"We are keen to sell bread but we might have to wait until the commodity price hike has worked its way through," Poundland CEO Jim McCarthy told The Grocer. "It's a line that's attractive for our customers and they have told us that they would like us to stock bread. But we need to make sure it's a quality product that we can sell for a pound and still provide the right margin."

Poundland this week ­announced its sales increased by 28.7% to £509.8m with pre-tax profits up 130.2% to £19.8m in the year ending 28 March 2010.

Like-for-like sales, which because of Poundland's fixed price point have no inflation, increased by 0.7%.

Poundland opened 56 stores in the period and plans to open at least 50 more in this financial year. It has already opened 25 new stores since the beginning of April, bringing its total to 293.