Member Article

B&M back in the black following IPO

Budget retailer, B&M has reported its preliminary results for 2014.

Stats

The Liverpool-based company has reported a profit of £39.9m for the year ending 28 March 2015, compared to a loss of £19.4m for the same period the previous year.

B&M opened 52 net new stores in the UK during 2014 and created 3,500 new local jobs. The retailer has a pipeline of a further 60 net new openings expected for the 2016 financial year.

Analysis

During 2014 the company had a successful IPO which valued the business at £2.7bn.

The company has attributed its growth to its ‘constantly changing range with seasonal options’ and it said it is now an established part of many people’s regular shopping habits.

In the spring of 2014, the company acquired Jawoll, a German low-cost retailer, adding 49 general merchandise discount stores with a similar market positioning to B&M’s.

Comment

Chairman, Sir Terry Leahy, said: “It is pleasing to report to shareholders that in B&M’s first year as a public company it has delivered strong increases in sales, profits and cash generation whilst pushing on with rapid store rollout and investing in new infrastructure to support continued growth.”

Chief executive, Simon Arora, said, “For many shoppers across the UK, B&M is now an established part of their regular shopping habits and, in tandem with our strong roll-out programme, this has enabled us to become one of the leaders in the rapid growth of value-led retailing in the UK.

“I am proud of the hard work and teamwork of our 19,000 colleagues in delivering such a strong performance in our maiden year as a listed company.”

Summary

Thanks to a successful IPO, B&M has managed to fund a considerable expansion of its portfolio while experiencing a significant profit increase from the previous year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .