Profit growth for B&M as store expansion continues

North West retail group B&M European Value Retail S.A. has grown profits 25.4%.

The Liverpool-headquartered company generated a pre-tax profit of £229.3m over the 53 weeks to March 31 2018, up from £182.9m in 2017.

Groupwide revenues saw similar growth, rising 24.6% year on year to hit £3.03bn.

The company’s B&M UK footprint grew by 39 stores during 2017/18. A further 45 net new stores are planned for the current financial year.

Elsewhere, the group’s acquisition of Yorkshire chain Heron Foods in August paid off, delivering an adjusted EBITDA of £11.7m in the first eight months of ownership.

The deal has enabled introduction frozen and chilled foods into 72 B&M stores to date.

The group’s other retail arm, German brand Jawoll, saw adjusted EBITDA fall 51.9% year on year. But with a new management team bringing Jawoll towards the B&M business model, the group is expecting the company to achieve EBITDA growth in the current financial year.

Simon Arora, the group’s chief executive, said: “B&M has delivered another set of strong results by doing what we do best, which is providing great value week in, week out on the things customers buy regularly for their homes and families.

“None of our success could have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of the thousands of B&M colleagues across the Group and on behalf of the Board I would like to thank them for all their efforts.”

He continued: “The B&M model is highly relevant for the current difficult economic environment, with its strong position in the value and convenience areas of retailing where physical stores are winning.

“The business is well placed for continued profitable, long-term growth. In a retail sector beset by structural challenges B&M’s unique, disruptive model stands out as a success story.”