Austin Cooke has left Poundland as managing director, after about 16 months in the role.
Cooke’s departure comes less than two weeks after former Poundland MD Barry Williams returned to the board of the struggling retailer on an interim basis.
It is understood Cooke has resigned ahead of taking a position at another company.
Cooke joined Poundland parent Pepco Group in 2017 as MD for western Europe, leading the brand Dealz in France and Spain.
He moved to Poundland UK as retail director in 2018 and progressed to retail & transformation director and then chief operating officer, before being promoted to MD in September 2023.
He left on 27 January, according to filings at Companies House.
Williams was Poundland MD from 2017 until September 2023, when he was parachuted in as MD of its sister retailer in Europe, Pepco, to address underperformance.
As revealed by The Grocer last month, he has returned in a supervisory role to run a comprehensive assessment of Poundland and Dealz in the UK and Ireland.
It comes as Poundland grapples to get trading back on track amid an ongoing slump in sales.
Same-store like-for-like sales fell 3.6% in the year to 30 September 2024, leading to a £650m writedown on owner Pepco Group’s balance sheet, reflecting the value of its investment when it acquired Poundland in 2016. It drove a £560m net loss for the Warsaw-listed group, which blamed Poundland’s “weak performance”.
The picture worsened over Christmas, with Poundland like for likes down 7.3% in the three months to 31 December, a quarter one update revealed.
Read more: Poundland: what’s gone wrong and what can it do to fix it?
Pepco Group is said to have formally engaged consultants AlixPartners in January to explore options for turning around the performance.
Poundland has already been turning the clock back on a years-long transition to a multi-price model in efforts to improve the situation. In December it cut essentials like bread and milk to £1 under the new slogan ‘Home of the Pound’. In January it increased the number of products costing £1 or less from 1,500 to 2,400 – about half its core range.
During Cooke’s years as Poundland retail director, retail & transformation director and COO, Poundland reimagined its store proposition, with larger units on retail parks and a broader range. It also expanded its grocery ranges, including fresh & frozen, in a strategy aimed at taking spend from supermarkets and the convenience channel. From 2017 to 2019, it rolled out Pep&Co clothing ranges to all stores.
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