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Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Poundland Homework Feedback

A/S Business Homework for 18th October 2018 - Feedback


In 2014 Poundland Ltd announced plans for a £750 million flotation on the London Stock Exchange. This process created Poundland plc.

Assess the possible advantages and disadvantages to Poundland of becoming a public limited company.
BBC news story here.

Always start with a definition:

Flotation is the term given to the launch of a company on to the stock market by the offer of its shares to the public.

A public limited company (PLC) is a limited liability business with over £50,000 of share capital and a wide spread of shareholders. PLCs are the only type of company allowed to be quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

Sample paragraph.
Make the point (P)
Give examples (E)
Explain the point (E)


The main advantage in the minds of the Directors of Poundland is the ability to raise a vast amount of capital through a stock market flotation – indeed £750 million pounds is a considerable sum of money.

This cash could be put to a number of hopefully positive uses. One option for the company is to grow the business.

Poundland could open a number of new outlets in towns where it is not currently present. This could have two benefits. Firstly increased footfall should deliver higher revenue with the very real prospect of higher profits. Secondly, having more stores gives Poundland greater buying power with suppliers as it can negotiate larger discounts on larger orders. The benefit of this to the company is that the profit margin on each item sold is maintained or improved.

If Poundland was seeking rapid expansion it could use some of the cash from the flotation to acquire a rival business such as the 99p chain. Not only would this increase the customer base of the company it would remove competition from the market place. This is beneficial to the company because those consumers who are attracted to discount retailers will probably continue to shop in a rebranded former 99p store.

A further option would be to use some of the cash to refurbish existing stores. Customers generally respond positively to an improved instore experience and the company should benefit from increased customer numbers and hopefully an increasing customer spend.

Why:
Hopefully?
Should?
Generally?

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