B&M European Value enjoys 'return to form' over Christmas

4th Jan 2017 07:40

(ShareCast News) - Discounter B&M European Value Retail said it was confident of hitting its full year targets after good sales over Christmas helped sales accelerate in the third quarter.Helped by 14 store openings, group revenues of £789.1m were up 20.5% on last year at constant currency rates, or up 7.2% in the UK on a like-for-like basis, which was an improvement from the 17.7% and near-flat LFLs in the first half of the year.With sales improving during this key period, which covered the UK from 25 September to 24 December and the younger Jawoll stores in Germany from 1 October to 31 December, lifted group sales for the fiscal year to date to £1.9bn, up 20% on the same time last year thanks to 34 store openings.LFL sales in the year to date are up 1.0%.As well as the new stores, sales for the FTSE 250 retailer were boosted by having an extra distribution centre over last year and by one extra trading day, which was said to have added 1.1% to the headline like-for-like total.B&M said the "deliberate impact" of new stores on existing stores has continued to reduce as expected and was 1.2% in the quarter and this number is expected to fall further in the final quarter and the impact to stabilise thereafter.In the German business, where the company is making its first steps towards a faster pace of expansion with seven new stores in the period taking the total to 73, sales revenues increased by 18.8% on a euro basis, which equates to an increase of 43.2% in sterling to £47.7m.Chief executive Simon Arora said it was a "powerful return to trading form" for B&M, helped by "increased levels of operational stability in our stores and supply chain"."We have once again demonstrated the strength, relative appeal and popularity of our model at a time of uncertainty for consumers generally and continuing structural change in the retailing sector."We have delivered our best ever Christmas trading and served over 5.5m customers in a single week in the UK alone as we continue to gain market share."