Chief executive, Poundland
Pound shops have done well in the recession, but none more so than Poundland. Jim McCarthy has helped bang the drum for the discount retailers, insisting that their popularity is no flash in the pan and that shoppers will remain loyal even when the economy bounces back.
Private equity firms would appear to support that viewpoint, with several jostling to buy the retailer when its owner Advent put it up for sale earlier this year.
New owner Warburg Pincus, which paid £200m for the chain, kept the former Sainsbury’s convenience boss on to lead the business, impressed with his expansion of the chain and the way he has capitalised on the recession. Poundland expects to make more than £700m in revenue in 2011.
The larger-than-life and irrepressibly enthusiastic McCarthy, who retained a stake in the business, has laid out plans for 800 shops and seems set to continue to change the way consumers view pound shops for a long time to come.
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