Poundland’s owner is reported to have appointed advisors to handle a sale of the discount chain only 14 months after buying it.
Gordon Brothers has chosen Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) to run an auction, Sky News reported.
Gordon Brothers bought Poundland from Pepco Group for a nominal sum of £1 in June last year. The sale led to a restructure involving mass store closures.
About 150 stores had closed by January this year, leaving 650. The retailer also closed two distribution centres and shed 2,200 jobs, leaving it with 12,000 employees.
A Poundland trading update on Thursday revealed like-for-like sales fell by 1.5% over the nine months to 30 June 2026, after it overhauled its range to focus on the £1 price point.
Like-for-like volume sales rose by 5% over the first three quarters of its current financial year but price drops meant it did not feed through to value sales growth.
The 1.5% drop in like-for-like value sales is nevertheless an improvement on the 2.9% decline in the quarter to 28 December 2025.
Poundland said EBITDA was broadly in line with expectations and more than £70m ahead of the same period a year earlier.
Poundland MD Barry Williams said: “Day by day and week by week we’re getting the Poundland business back on track as we turn around the business at pace.
“Thanks to the hard work of my colleagues in every store, distribution centre and customer service centre, we’re making the kind of progress many thought was just a pipe dream.
“We know how important a thriving Poundland is for high street footfall right across the communities we serve.”
On the potential sale, Williams told Retail Week: “The reason this process has started is that they [Gordon Brothers] received unsolicited enquiries about acquiring the business. Rightly, they said: ‘If people are interested in buying the business, we should have an open process, appoint advisers, and see how genuine these offers are. Then we’ll make a decision on whether we want to sell this business or not.’”
A Poundland spokesman did not provide a comment on reports advisors have been appointed for a sale of the business.
Gordon Brothers and A&M were approached for comment.
Commenting after reports of a sale emerged earlier this week, Bally Auluk, national officer at union Usdaw, said: “It is deeply disappointing that the new owners are already considering the sale of the Poundland business.
“It is also concerning that the business did not brief staff or the union ahead of these stories emerging in the media. We are now seeking urgent talks with the business, to seek clarity on their future intentions.
“In the meantime, we are providing our members with the support and advice they need at this very difficult time.”
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