Dealz-owner Pepco cuts profit outlook again amid 'increasingly challenging' markets  

Its shares fell sharply after it highlighted weaker consumer demand for its key clothing and general merchandise categories

Pepco said it had performed resiliently through the first year of the cost of living crisis 

Discount retailer Pepco, which in Ireland owns the Dealz and Poundland outlets, lowered its profit outlook for the second time in less than three weeks, blaming an “increasingly challenging” trading environment in its core markets of Central and Eastern Europe and a loss of focus from management.

The Warsaw-listed group which owns Pepco had performed resiliently through the first year of the cost of living crisis, but had cautioned in July that sales growth had started to slow.