B&M European Value Retail S.A. (LON:BME), the UK’s leading variety goods value retailer, today provides a trading update for the third quarter of its current financial year, relating to the 13 week period from 24 September 2023 to 23 December 2023.
Highlights
| Fascia revenue perfomance | Q3 FY24 | Q3 YTD FY24 | ||
| £m | % | £m | % | |
| B&M UK1 | 1,350m | 3.7% | 3,395m | 6.3% |
| B&M France | 151m | 11.3% | 383m | 19.8% |
| Heron Foods | 144m | 11.7% | 416m | 15.1% |
| · | Group revenue growth in the quarter of 5.0% year-on-year (“YoY”) to £1,645m. Q3 YTD growth of 8.1% YoY to £4,194m on a constant currency basis2 |
| · | In the 14 week period to 30 December 2023, B&M UK like-for-like3 revenue growth was 1.2%, a strong quarter given prior year comparatives, performance was driven by positive transaction numbers |
| · | Excellent general merchandise volume performance delivered strong sales participation and high sell-through, exiting the quarter with a clean Group inventory position flat YoY |
| · | On track to open 76 gross new stores across the Group in FY24 (45 in B&M UK, 11 in B&M France and 20 in Heron Foods) |
| · | Consistent with the Group’s capital allocation framework, the Board will be declaring a special dividend of 20.0p per Ordinary Share to be paid on 9 February 2024 to shareholders on the register at 19 January 2024. The ex-dividend date will be 18 January 20244 |
Alex Russo, B&M European Value Retail Chief Executive, said,
“The performance across the Golden Quarter has been pleasing, with strong operational execution across the three businesses. Our strategy remains unchanged – we are an everyday low-price discounter with a laser-focus in keeping excellence in retail standards and our costs the lowest. This allows us to provide our products at the best price to all customers – many of whom continue to face significant cost-of-living pressures.
We are well-positioned for the year ahead and we reiterate our guidance for Group adjusted EBITDA (pre-IFRS 16) within our target range of £620m – £630m for FY24 (FY23: £573m). Our store pipeline is strong and we will open not less than 45 B&M UK stores in each of the next two financial years, driving disciplined cash generating growth.”
Notes:
1. References in this announcement to the B&M business include the B&M fascia stores in the UK except for the ‘B&M Express’ fascia stores. References in this announcement to the Heron Foods business include both the Heron Foods fascia and B&M Express fascia convenience stores in the UK.
2. Constant currency comparison involves restating the prior year Euro revenues using the same exchange rate as that used to translate the current year Euro revenues.
3. One-year like-for-like revenues relate to the B&M UK estate only (excluding wholesale revenues) and include each store’s revenue for that part of the current period that falls at least 14 months after it opened compared with its revenue for the corresponding part of FY23. This 14-month approach has been adopted as it excludes the 2-month halo period which new stores experience following opening.
4. Dividends are stated as gross amounts before a deduction of Luxembourg withholding tax which is currently 15%.
Conference call
There will be a conference call for investors and analysts to discuss this trading update on Tuesday 9 January 2024 at 09:00am (UK).
Investors and analysts should register for the call using the following link:
https://register.vevent.com/register/BIf587de45def7488d9fdfc523033aa99f
B&M European Value Retail S.A. is a variety retailer with 717 stores in the UK operating under the “B&M” brand, 331 stores under the “Heron Foods” and “B&M Express” brands, and 122 stores in France also operating under the “B&M” brand as at 23 December 2023.
