Poundland's owner, Pepco Group, has reported a big fall in profits for the year.

The company, which also owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe, said profits were down 35.8% to £126 million for the year to September 30.

The group reported record sales of £4.8 billion, a rise of 17.7%. But this was hit by the cost of opening 668 new stores, as well as the pressure of inflation and interest rates.

Sales at Poundland, which has stores in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury, are 'slightly above' last year's levels for the first eight weeks of 2023/24. But sales across the group were down 3.1% for the same period.

For 2024, Pepco Group intends to slow down store openings. In recent weeks, it has opened 64 former Wilko stores under the Poundland brand.