September 13 (SeeNews) - Pan-European discount variety retailer Pepco Group increased its revenue from Bulgarian operations by an annual 85% to 132 million levs ($68.7 million/67.5 million euro) in 2021, the company said on Tuesday.
In what was among the ten best results posted by retailers in Bulgaria last year, Pepco booked a net profit of 16.3 million levs, the company said in a press release.
The company, which retails clothing and homewares, came fourth in terms of profitability, with a net margin of 12.34%.
A majority of Pepco Bulgaria's clients, 65% according to a recent company poll, are attracted by the retailer's low prices, with some two-thirds planning their purchases in advance, according to Bogdan Grigoriu, operations manager for Bulgaria.
"We pick municipalities with around 10,000 inhabitants to open new stores. The rate of opening of new sites is between two to six new stores per month. We are hiring about 35-40 new colleagues per month all over Bulgaria," Grigoriu added.
The group, which enters two new European markets per year with some 300 new stores, established its presence in Greece and Germany earlier in 2022. The discount retailer is now planning to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Portugal in 2023, which will grow to a total of 19 the European countries in which it is present.
Pepco Group, which is registered in the Netherlands and headquartered in London, is part of South-African conglomerate Steinhoff International. In Europe, the group owns the brands PEPCO and Dealz as well as the Poundland brand in the UK.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)