B&M European Value Retail S.A., the UK’s leading general merchandise value retailer, has provided a trading update for the first quarter of its current financial year, relating to the period from 1 April 2018 to 30 June 2018.
The business enjoyed a strong start to the new financial year with group revenue growth in the quarter of 21.3 per cent with B&M UK revenue growth of 8.3 per cent including like-for-like growth of +1.6 per cent and +3.6 per cent on an underlying basis, excluding the non-comparable Easter week in the prior year.
Four new B&M UK stores opened in the quarter, including one relocation, reflecting the phasing of the new store opening programme being weighted towards the second half of the financial year. The retailer remains on, track for 50 gross new stores in the year as a whole. Four new stores were opened in the quarter by its value convenience store chain, Heron Foods, which continues to trade well on top of good performance in the prior year. The business also reported encouraging progress at Jawoll with revenue growth of 7 per cent in the quarter driven by the gardening category, with new management driving a fast pace of change in the customer offer ahead of the Autumn/Winter season.
Simon Arora, Chief Executive, said: “The business has performed strongly in the quarter despite demanding comparables of +7 per cent LFL’s in the previous year and a sluggish market environment. Our competitively-priced ranges for garden and outdoor leisure have been very well received and they are achieving great rates of sell-through. We have enjoyed record sales in these seasonal product categories, which is a testament to the appeal of our highly disruptive business model. I would like to thank all our colleagues for their hard work and success in delivering B&M’s best-ever Q1 early Summer Trading season.”
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