Poundworld have officially been allowed by Britain’s competition regulators to precede their £55 million takeover of rival shop 99p, after it was found that the takeover would not leave consumers worse off.
Spokesperson for Poundworld has said they aim to complete its network of 800 shops by the end of September by adding 251 shops to their current 588 outlets across UK and Ireland.
Investigations into the merging were carried out by The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), after there were concerns that the purchasing would result in a significant drop in choice for shoppers.
Britain’s competition Regulators have stated: “The CMA found that, along with Poundworld, the companies are each other’s closest competitors, but after the merger they will still face competition from other value retailers such as B&M, Home Bargains, Wilko and Bargain Buys, along with Tesco and, to an extent, Asda.”
Jim McCarthy, Poundland chief executive, has welcomed the decision to allow the merging: “We believe that the acquisition of 99p Stores will be great for both customers and for shareholders and we will now move to completion by the end of the month”
Poundworld revealed they have reached sales of over £1billion and have achieved a further 19% rise in profits to £43.7million.
Although Poundworld have not yet revealed plans for the 99p shop they have said they are fully prepared to make further expansions.