B&M sales surge as DIY and gardening demand spikes in lockdown

The value operator said like-for-likes climbed 6.6% during its fourth quarter, covering the 13 weeks to March 28, buoyed by consumers stocking up on supplies ahead of lockdown. It hailed sales in its grocery categories, including its Heron Foods business, during the period. 

B&M said revenue growth has continued since the start of its new financial year. In the eight weeks to May 23, like-for-like sales in its core UK business surged 22.7%.

The retailer said performance in DIY and gardening categories offset “a significant fall in customer count” during the period, as customers stayed at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Excluding those two categories, B&M’s like-for-likes advanced 10.3% over the eight-week period.

B&M cautioned that growth in DIY and gardening was likely to represent “significant pull-forward in demand”, sparked by warm weather and the lockdown, rather than additional sales.

The retailer reiterated that it is experiencing “higher than normal” operating costs as a result of social distancing measures put in place to protect staff and customers. It also paid its workers “premium wage rates” during the peak of the pandemic.

However, it said that all 49 of its UK stores that had previously been closed temporarily are now open again for business. Its stores in France were shuttered from March 15, and all but two of those reopened on May 11.

B&M boss Simon Arora said: “We have encountered exceptionally strong demand in our UK business over recent weeks. Customers have been coming to our stores much less frequently through the lockdown, but their average spend has been much higher than normal.”

But Arora added: “We have seen a significant bring-forward of demand in some key categories and the remarkably warm spring weather in the UK has been a major factor behind this during recent weeks. We are not expecting this current level of trading to continue as normal shopping patterns resume.

“Clearly, there is also considerable uncertainty in relation to both the progression of Covid-19 and the economic outlook, and it is therefore hard to predict future trading levels.”

B&M will unveil its full-year results on June 11.