B&M reports “solid” first quarter trading
B&M has said it made a solid start to its new financial year with UK like-for-like sales growth of 3.9% after record Easter trading.
In the company’s first quarter ending 29 June, group revenue climbed by 21.4% to £967.7 million as UK revenue rose by 13.8% to £738.9 million.
Meanwhile, its Heron Foods convenience chain increased its sales by 8.1% to £93.1 million and saw good like-for-like growth.
Revenue also rose at B&M’s Jawoll chain in Germany where there was an uplift of 1.9% to £63.1 million. However, there was a small negative like-for-like performance due to there being a particularly strong like-for-like performance last year.
B&M also operates the Babou chain in France.
Simon Arora, B&M chief executive, said: “B&M had its third consecutive record Easter trading period with sales of seasonal products and homewares performing particularly well and Heron Foods has traded solidly too. The transitional changes to the product offers in Jawoll and Babou are now taking shape, as we apply the B&M model to those businesses. We look forward to the remainder of the year with confidence.”
