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B&M has warned of ongoing cost pressures in the coming year, as it saw its latest full-year profits fall amid what it called a “challenging market”. In the year ended 28 March 2026, adjusted EBITDA fell by 26% to £459m, as like-for-like UK sales remained flat over the year.
The company also reported a 47.3% drop in statutory profit before tax to £227m, down from £431m the previous year.
Although group revenues were up by 3.6%, driven by steady cash generation from operations, the group has launched a turnaround programme to restore its like-for-like sales growth.
As part of this, the group cleared discontinued stock lines in the fourth quarter and started reducing product counts across all fast-moving consumer goods categories.
Looking ahead, B&M said it will look to balance new store growth whilst investing in its existing store formats.
CEO Tjeerd Jegen said: “FY26 was a difficult year that saw profits fall due to a challenging market and execution issues. We launched our Back to B&M Basics plan in October to restore like-for-like sales growth at B&M UK, which was flat overall versus FY25 while showing sequential improvement.
“The past six months has seen us sharpen our pricing, improve onshelf availability in best-selling brands and revamp our in-store promotions. We cleared discontinued lines well in Q4 and are now embarking on SKU count reductions across all our FMCG categories. Cash conversion remained strong in FY26 and net debt has fallen, returning group leverage back within our 1.0 to 1.5x target range, and I am pleased to report adjusted EBITDA (pre-IFRS 16) at the midpoint of our current guidance.”
He added: “FY27 remains a year of investment as we work hard to deliver growth under Back to B&M Basics and balance new store growth with investing in our store formats under Phase 2 of our strategic plan.
“We are confident we can offset rising energy costs in the year ahead through cost mitigation, the benefits of which will flow through to our bottom line once we have returned B&M UK like-for-like sales to growth. In the medium term, we continue to see no reason why B&M UK cannot return to double-digit EBITDA margins.”
