B&M European Value Retail S.A. (B&M) is a general merchandise discount retailer in the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.B&M also has 49 stores in Germany, after having recently acquired an 80 per cent stake in Jawoll, a variety goods retailer based in the country's north west.
. B&M stores offer a broad range of grocery and non-grocery products across a wide range of price points. B&M stores product offering consists of Grocery products and Non-grocery products. The Company’s grocery products are branded fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products, which include household consumables, such as cleaning supplies, health and beauty products, confectionery, drinks and ambient food products. Non-grocery products include household textiles, homewares, furniture, toys, seasonal goods, electrical goods and clothing. This includes seasonal merchandise for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day and the back to school period, along with seasonal winter and summer products.B&M European Value Retail SA trades from 400 stores with stores located across the UK with a range of High Street and Out of Town Locations. It enjoys some 150 million shopper visits per year and introduce some 50 new lines every week. Employs over 19,000 staff.


http://www.bmstores.co.uk/about-bandm-stores

Talk of Asda in the Daily Mail of bidding for B&M

If true early stages, apparently no comment from Asda.

Acquisition of Heron Food Group Limited
RNS
RNS Number : 8566M
B&M European Value Retail S.A.
02 August 2017
 
 
2 August 2017
B&M European Value Retail S.A.
 
Acquisition of Heron Food Group Limited
B&M European Value Retail S.A. ("B&M"), the UK's leading multi-price value retailer, today announces the acquisition by its subsidiary, EV Retail Limited, of the entire issued share capital of Heron Food Group Limited ("Heron") a discount convenience retailer operating predominantly in the North of England with 251 stores.
 
For the year ended 31 December 2016 Heron delivered Revenues of £274.4m, EBITDA of £19.1m, Profit before tax of £8.6m and had Gross Assets of £93.5m as at 31 December 2016. Like-for-like revenue growth in the year was 3.0%. The business currently employs c.3,800 people and has c.1,200 SKUs, including ambient, frozen and chilled foods. Heron's stores average c.2,500 sq ft of retail space compared to B&M's UK average of c.19,000 sq ft.
 
The total enterprise value of the transaction is £152m including the debt assumed of the Heron group. An initial cash consideration of £112.1m was paid by B&M on exchange and completion of the acquisition today. Up to £12.8m of deferred cash consideration may become payable based on the EBITDA performance of the Heron group up to 31 March 2019; this is included in the £152m enterprise value figure. The initial cash consideration was satisfied from B&M's existing cash resources and facilities.
 
The acquisition of Heron will enable B&M to develop and roll out a complementary, proven and profitable discount convenience grocery brand. The customer profiles of Heron and B&M are similar and both formats are expanding successfully. Convenience is one of the areas of growth in grocery retailing today, although much of this growth to date has been based on premium pricing. The Board of B&M believes that Heron's expertise and attractive existing store portfolio, when supported by B&M's proven sourcing, retailing and store roll-out capabilities, can bring an attractive new customer value proposition in an expanding sector of the grocery market.
 
Heron is currently managed and owned by Andrew, David and Michael Heuck. Michael Heuck is retiring from the business as planned, whilst Andrew and David Heuck remain in their existing trading and finance roles with Heron. B&M, alongside the existing Heron management team, will continue to expand and develop the Heron business, initially through the addition of between 10 and 20 new stores per annum.
 
The Board expects the acquisition to be immediately earnings enhancing.
 
Simon Arora, CEO of B&M commented:
"B&M is already the UK's leading general merchandise discount retailer, serving 4 million shoppers per week. The addition of a complementary, proven discount convenience grocery brand to our own structural growth story gives the combined business an even longer, exciting growth runway. I look forward to working with David and Andrew Heuck and the Heron team to drive forward our shared ambition to deliver exceptional value for money to shoppers across the UK."
 
David and Andrew Heuck commented:
"We are delighted to be joining forces and working with B&M. Both companies share a vision to bring great value to customers and the combination of Heron's skills with the expertise and resources of B&M will mean the creation of a potent new force in the structurally growing convenience sector. Today's transaction secures for Heron's loyal and hardworking workforce a perfect long term home within the B&M Group and provides an exciting platform for the roll-out of more Heron stores nationally."
 
The acquisiton constitutes a Class 2 transaction for the purposes of the UK Financial Authority's Listing Rules, and, as such does not require B&M shareholders' approval. 
 
B&M was advised by BofA Merrill Lynch, PwC, Addleshaw Goddard and Gordons.
 
This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.
 
 
 
An analyst conference call in relation to the transaction will take place on Wednesday 2 August 2017 at 11.00am (UK). Please contact Maitland on 0207 379 5151 for further details.
 

12:00 08/09/2017
Broker Forecast - Deutsche Bank issues a broker note on B&M European Value Retail
Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) and raised its price target to 425p (from 400p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

22 Sep
Goldman Sachs
400.00
Buy

13:40 27/09/2017
Broker Forecast - Goldman Sachs issues a broker note on B&M European Value Retail
Goldman Sachs today reaffirms its buy investment rating on B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) and raised its price target to 420p (from 400p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

09:30 02/11/2017
Broker Forecast - Jefferies International issues a broker note on B&M European Value Retail
Jefferies International today reaffirms its buy investment rating on B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) and raised its price target to 470p (from 415p). Story provided by

10:10 14/11/2017
Broker Forecast - Peel Hunt issues a broker note on B&M European Value Retail
Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) and raised its price target to 485p (from 440p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

A buy in the DM today

20 Dec
Liberum Capital
475.00
Buy
20 Dec
Peel Hunt
485.00
Buy

I hope trading has been good over the Christmas period, with shoppers picking this store for cheaper items.

Sold today , ahead of results. Tough trading on the high street at the moment. 50/50 as to whether results equal market expectations.

Trading statement

24 Apr
Liberum Capital
475.00
Buy
23 Apr
HSBC
470.00
Buy

Preliminary results


● Group revenues1 increased by 22.4% to £2,976.3m (2017: £2,430.7m), 22.0% at constant currency2 for the 52 week comparable period to the previous year

● UK B&M store fascia Like-for-Like revenue4 growth of 4.7% for the year

● Group profit before tax increased by 25.4% to £229.3m for the 53 week period (2017: £182.9m)
● UK B&M store fascia Adjusted EBITDA1&3 growth of 17.2% to £261.7m (2017: £223.2m), with a 29bps increase in margin to 10.2% of revenue

● The 53rd week added some £53.5m and £3.2m to Group revenues and profit before tax respectively

● Group Adjusted Profit Before Tax1&3 increased by 16.5% to £221.5m (2017: £190.2m), diluted earnings per share 18.6p (2017: £14.3p)

● Cash generated from operations of £242.0m for the 53 week period (2017: £210.9m), Year-end Net Debt of £535.3m and net debt to EBITDA of 1.92x, which equates to 1.72x excluding the capital expenditure incurred to date on the Southern distribution centre (2017: 1.71x)

Trading update

Highlights

● Strong start to the new financial year as B&M's disruptive value model continues to prove highly attractive to customers

● Group revenue growth in the quarter of 21.3%, with B&M UK revenue growth of 8.3% including like-for-like growth of +1.6% and +3.6% on an underlying basis, excluding the non-comparable Easter week in the prior year

● Four new B&M UK stores opened in the quarter (which includes one relocation), reflecting the phasing of the new store opening programme being weighted towards the second half of the financial year. On track for 50 gross new stores in the year as a whole

● Four new stores opened in the quarter by our value convenience store chain, Heron Foods, which continues to trade well on top of good performance in the prior year

● Encouraging progress at Jawoll with good revenue growth of 7.0% in the quarter driven by the Gardening category, with new management driving a fast pace of change in the customer offer ahead of the Autumn/Winter season

Half year report


HIGHLIGHTS

· Group revenues increased by +16.1% to £1,563.0m, +16.0% at constant currency1

· B&M2 UK revenues were up +7.1%, which includes like-for-like revenues3 of +0.9% on an underlying basis4 excluding the non-comparable Easter trading week which fell in week 53 of FY18. Like-for-like revenues were flat if no adjustment is made for the non-comparable Easter trading week

· At the start of Q3 like-for-like sales growth so far in B&M fascia stores in the UK has been similar to H1, and the business is well placed for the "golden quarter" trading

· Group adjusted EBITDA5 increased by 13.5% to £131.8m (FY18: £116.1m) and the B&M UK adjusted EBITDA5 increased by +12.1%

· Profit before tax increased by 32.5% to £115.0m (FY18: £86.8m)

· Earnings per share 9.3p, an increase of 36.8% (FY18: 6.8p). Adjusted Diluted earnings per share5 8.0p, up 14.3% (FY18: 7.0p)
· Cash flow from operations £67.0m (FY18: £44.2m), reflecting EBITDA5 growth and working capital discipline

· Interim dividend6 increased by 12.5% to 2.7p per share (FY18: 2.4p per share) to be paid on 21 December 2018
· 22 gross new B&M UK store openings of which 5 are relocations (net 15 after 2 closures) and on track to open at least 58 gross new B&M stores this financial year
· German business, Jawoll, opened 2 new stores in the period, and on track to open 10 new stores this financial year
· Jawoll's revenue growth was +4.1%, although margin was impacted as expected by clearance activity on old stock lines as Jawoll introduces more B&M sourced products

· Heron Foods has continued to trade well and opened 9 gross new stores, net 4 and on track to open at least 20 gross new stores this financial year
· Babou, a value retailer in France, acquired in October 2018 with 95 stores, providing a platform for future growth in a large and attractive market