B&M hails strong results, names new chairman from SuperGroup

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 14, 2017

B&M European Retail has had a good six months with the diversified retailer - which sells everything from homewares to clothing at value prices - seeing comparable revenues up 7.5% and saying Q2 growth accelerated to 7.7%. It also announced that SuperGroup’s chairman is joining as non-exec chairman next year.

In the six months ended September 23, total revenues rose 21.7% to £1.35 billion and adjusted profit on an ebitda basis was up 19.8% at £116.1 million, while pre-tax profit was up 17.8% to £86.8 million. Although both of those profit figures are good, it’s clear that earnings growth is slightly behind that of sales growth so the company appears to either pro-actively sacrificing profits in order to boost sales, or perhaps responding to a tough environment in which markdowns are expected by customers.

It look slick the answer to that question is the former. “B&M has delivered an excellent performance in the first half of the financial year with strong growth in revenues, EBITDA and profit before tax,” said chairman Sir Terry Leahy. “Our trading momentum in the UK has been maintained, driven by more shoppers seeking out value at B&M, combined with further improvements to our offer for customers particularly in ranging, pricing and store standards.”

He also said the company is “well placed for the approaching Christmas season and we look forward to the remainder of the financial year with confidence.”

The company opened 20 new B&M UK stores in the period and its German Jawoll business opened a further seven.

Meanwhile, the company also said that Peter Bamford would take over from Sir Terry Leahy as non-executive chairman next March.

It said Bamford brings“extensive” senior and board-level experience in public companies, particularly in consumer and retail businesses.
He is currently chairman of SuperGroup and also deputy chairman and senior independent director of Spire Healthcare Group.