• UK like-for-likes up 7.2%
  • UK sales rose 20.5%
  • Retailer has opened 34 stores this year

B&M Bargains sales rocketed in the three months to Christmas Eve, with UK like-for-likes rising 7.2%.

Total group revenue, including sales at German discount retailer Jawoll, rose 20.5% to £789.1m.

In the UK, sales at B&M also rose 20.5%, reaching £741.4m.

UK like-for-likes rose 7.2%, although the group did benefit from an extra day’s trading.

Boss Simon Arora told Retail Week the strong performance was due to a “huge effort on supply chain and store standards”.

He said Christmas decorations had been one of the star performers for B&M as it sold a record six million Christmas crackers.

On the shape of trading, Arora said the start of October had been “sluggish”, trading in November was strong and there was a “strong spurt” in the final couple of weeks up to to Christmas.

B&M reported in one week it served more than 5.5 million customers and it is continuing to gain market share.

The retailer said it is confident it will meet EBITDA expectations for its full year.

It now trades from 533 stores, opening 14 in the last quarter and 34 in the year to date.

Topics