Private equity firm Advent has hired Close Brothers to advise on a possible sale of value retailer Poundland.
Advent bought Poundland for £50m in 2002 and it may now be sold to another private equity house or a trade buyer, the Financial Times reported.
Although a number of retail transactions, such as Matalan founder john Hargreaves’ attempt to sell his business, have fallen through in recent months Poundland could be valued at 10 times EBITDA, which was £20m in the year to March 2009.
Pound stores expanded during the recession as shoppers sought out value. Poundland and similar retailers also benefited from the demise of Woolworths, picking up about £60m of then collapsed variety store group’s sales last year.
In the year to March 2009, Poundland more than doubled pre-tax profits to £8.6m on sales up from £329m to £396m.
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