Pepco has raised its FY26 underlying net earnings growth forecast to above 60% and approved a share buyback of up to €400m ($454.2m).
The Warsaw-listed discounter’s earlier guidance was growth above 50% in the year to 30 September 2026, against a restated FY25 base of €234m.
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It attributed the upgrade to improved EBITDA conversion, a lower effective tax rate and a depreciation policy change.
In a pre-close trading update ahead of FY26 preliminary results on 9 December 2026, Pepco said it expects full-year revenue above €4.5bn, implying constant-currency growth of around 8%, at the top of its 6% to 8% range.
Revenue for the 51 weeks to 20 September rose 8.3% at constant currency, while like-for-like (LfL) revenue grew 5.9% excluding fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and 3.8% including them.
Constant-currency revenue for the fourth quarter to date rose 15.6%.
LfL revenue excluding FMCG grew 9.5%, and 9.4% including them, against 5.4% and 4.2% in Q3.
Pepco called this its “strongest” quarterly LfL performance since its strategy reset and the eighth straight quarter of positive LfL growth.
Excluding FMCG, LfL growth was volume-led, with transactions up in every region.
Western Europe rose 14.9%, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) North 8.8% and CEE South 8.2%.
Spain remained above 20% following the Pepco Plus conversion, while Poland, the group’s largest market, grew 5.9%.
A planned clearance of older-season inventory added an estimated three to five percentage points to Q4 LfL growth.
Pepco expects about 250 net new stores in FY26, taking its estate to around 4,260 by 30 September 2026.
That precedes a rollout of at least 600 new Western European stores between FY27 and FY30.
Pepco Group CEO Stephan Borchert said: “FY26 has been a defining year for Pepco Group. We have completed the transformation of our portfolio into a pure-play Pepco business, and the momentum behind the brand has built steadily through the year.
“We now expect to deliver full year revenue growth at the top of our guidance range, together with mid-teens EBITDA growth and a step-change in net earnings.”
