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B&M has seen its profit-before-tax fall 13.2% to £431m, compared with the £498m it posted in the same period last year.
This came as a result of UK inflation, with the company’s UK revenues falling 3.1%, despite its overall group revenue rising 3.7% to £5.57bn. B&M put this revenue increase down to the 70 new stores it opened across the UK and France.
It also blamed the sales decrease on “a very subdued garden season, heightened consumer caution, limited real wage growth and the timing of Easter”.
The company stated that its UKFMCG performance “did not meet our internal expectations” as both its sales value and units were down for the period, but its general merchandise trading was “more robust”.
It also admitted that its trading for the full year “could have been better” and that it was looking to address that in its current trading plans. It stated “to address the underperformance in FMCG categories and drive average selling prices in general merchandise”.
Looking ahead, B&M is set to open 70 gross stores in the next year, 45 new B&M stores in the UK, this will bring the retailer closer to its target of 1200 locations in the UK. The company is also set to open 14 Heron Foods and 11 B&M stores in France.
Furthermore, the company’s new UK import centre is set to be operational this summer and the distribution centre expansion project in France is progressing well.
B&M added it is set to welcome its new chief executive Tjeerd Jegen who formally starts the role on 16 June. He joins the company having worked in leadership roles at Ahold Delhaize, Metro, Tesco, Woolworths, HEMA and Takko Fashion over 25 years.
