Discount retailer B&M’s Christmas sales grow as dozens of stores open

The B&M European Value Retail group, which also runs the Heron frozen foods chain, revealed that revenues increased by 5 per cent to £1.65bn over the 13 weeks to December 23.

It said this means revenues grew by 8.1 per cent, on a constant currency basis, over the first nine months of the current financial year, after growth eased back.

B&M UK, which has 717 shops, saw sales grow by 3.7 per cent to £1.35bn over the quarter leading up to Christmas.

The retailer hailed this as a positive performance and said it sold “excellent” volumes of general merchandise.

The group’s B&M France business recorded a 11.3 per cent rise in revenues to £151m over the quarter, while Heron Foods saw revenues increase 11.7 per cent to £144m.

B&M said the whole group is set to have opened 76 new shops across all brands over the year to March, with 45 B&Ms in the UK, 11 B&Ms in France, and 20 new Heron shops.

Alex Russo, chief executive of the group, 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.

“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.”

Mr Russo added that the company is on track to meet its earnings target of between £620m and £630m for the year.

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor, said the “mixed update” from convenience retailer B&M European was a slight drag on UK markets, “where comparisons will become increasingly interesting as the likes of Sainsbury, Tesco and Marks & Spencer report their festive experiences over the coming days”.

He added: “In economic news, there were some cautionary signs from a retail sales growth reading which revealed growth of just 1.7 per cent in December, as compared to 6.9 per cent the year previous.

"While the likes of travel and entertainment grew at a solid clip, with consumers flocking to book holidays for later in the year, discretionary spending generally was more cautious in the festive season.

Mr Hunter added: "This in turn could herald a difficult few months for retailers as spending is curtailed following any Christmas excesses, at a time when UK economic growth is increasingly in need of a shot in the arm.”

A number of leading retailers will be providing updates on their trading performance in the run up to Christmas between now and the end of January.