Poundland Blocked Buying Stock Since Oct 27, Says Owner Curbs Cash
Poundland has been unable to pay suppliers for new stock since October 27, after owner Gordon Brothers restricted its credit and trading cash, even as managing director Barry Williams reports an £18.1 million EBITDA profit for the year to September 2026.
Poundland has been blocked from buying new stock since October 27, after its owner Gordon Brothers restricted access to the discount retailer's credit facilities and the cash its stores generate, ITV News understands. The restriction comes as the company reports a sharp improvement in earnings.
Some payments for essential services are still being authorized. Payments to suppliers of goods for resale are not.
Selling stock it cannot replace
That means Poundland is selling what it already holds but cannot replenish shelves. It raises concerns about whether the chain can keep trading through the crucial Christmas period.
As of November 3, Poundland had approximately £25 million in cash that its management could not access, ITV News understands. The balance is believed to have grown as trading receipts keep coming in.
One person familiar with the company's finances described the restrictions as a "stranglehold" on the business. "It's difficult to see how Poundland can recover if it isn't allowed to use its own cash receipts to replace stock," the person said.
The turnaround case
Barry Williams, Poundland's managing director, set out a far brighter picture in a note sent to thousands of staff on Friday. He said the company swung from an EBITDA loss of £68.1 million in the financial year to September 2025 to an EBITDA profit of £18.1 million in the year to September 2026.
EBITDA means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Analysts use it to judge a company's underlying operating performance. The change amounts to an £86.2 million improvement in 12 months.
Williams said the figures have not yet been audited or published, and suggested they could be revised upwards.
Like-for-like sales, which compare trading at stores open in both periods, rose 7% in the first period of the new financial year. They accelerated at the start of the second. Last week, which included Halloween, they were 11.4% higher than a year earlier and £1.5 million ahead of budget.
Total sales are down on last year. Williams attributed that to the closure of 115 stores as part of the restructuring.
Owner's warning
Gordon Brothers, the American firm that bought Poundland for £1 in June 2025, takes a different view. It is now considering offers for the business and its stores, and argues the best way to preserve jobs may be to break the company up and sell stores to other retailers.
In a letter to the government last week, Mark Newton-Jones, head of Gordon Brothers' UK operations, said Poundland remained financially vulnerable. He pointed to challenges shared with other high street retailers, including rising inflation and increasing staffing costs.
Williams told ITV News last week he would fight until "the last minute" to save his colleagues.
