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

Former Tesco boss Leahy plans to double stores of bargain chain B&M in latest discount blow to Big Four supermarkets
B&M aims to double number of UK shops from the current 400 to 850
It expects to create 2,500 jobs and add a total of 50 shops by April
It is in talks with the owner of Homebase to buy stores being auctioned

By City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail and Camilla Canocchi for Thisismoney.co.uk

Published: 01:06, 19 November 2014 | Updated: 16:26, 19 November 2014



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2839615/Discount-chain-B-M-holds-talks-owner-Homebase-buy-surplus-stores-auctioned.html

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MORNING MEETING: Discount chain B&M set for national stage

SEEING the number of shutters coming down and charity shops opening up it is easy to think Britain's high streets are in terminal decline.



By: Peter Cunliffe
Published: Wed, November 19, 2014

While Woolworths and Comet go down, discount chains are on the rise on our high streets


The ambitious expansion plans unveiled by B&M yesterday are a welcome antidote to the idea that bricks–and–mortar shops will inevitably disappear under the onslaught of online shopping.

There is no denying retailing is going through the toughest period in living memory but high streets have managed to survive hundreds of years of change by showing an amazing ability to adapt. While the likes of Woolworths, Comet and Phones 4U have gone to the great closing down sale in the sky, discount retailers are filling the gap.

B&M has been among the most successful but it has not attracted the publicity of the discount supermarkets or £1 shops.

That is about to change as it goes national and by the end of the decade I predict its name will be as familiar as Woolworths used to be.

Ex dividend Thurs 4 dec 0.9p

11 Dec Citigroup 310.00 Buy

B&M One of the Expresses stocks for 2015.

Hurdles on the way include the ­general election and the struggling eurozone so against that background we have gone for stocks which should ride out any ups and downs.

Discount store chain B&M European Value Retail (285p) chaired by former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has a strong sales growth track record and sees scope to double in size.

12 Jan Citigroup 310.00 Buy

B&M European Value Retail SA (BME:LSE) set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached 306.00. Over this period, the share price is up 7.37%.

Poundland vs. B&M

January 14, 2015 5:10 pm by Ken Odeluga


http://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-analysis/market-predictions-2015/36163782015/ken-odeluga-bp-leads-sunken-oil-john-wood-bests-cornered-oil-services-poundland-vs-bm/


Poundland vs. B&M, who?

Investing in the UK low-cost segment is not straightforward.

There are few listed players, with Poundland Group Plc. the most prominent. I think Poundland makes a strong case as a play on the low-cost UK supermarket segment, with half-year earnings

in November jumping 11.7% to £9.3m for the 26 weeks to 28th September against the comparative period, and like-for-like sales up 4.7% on a constant-currency basis.

This needs to be balanced against its poor forward yield of 1.5% and the overall sense that it lacks the focus, canniness and aggression of the near-notorious Aldi and Lidl (which are unlisted.)

On that basis, it looks like there is a better opportunity than Poundland, in a relatively overlooked listed UK rival.

Market forecasts expect London-listed small cap B&M European Value Retail SA to grow marginally faster than Poundland: consensus forward PE of 27.65 vs. 25.87 for Poundland.

Shares of the latter have so far failed to build up steam from the highs on their IPO day: 401p, on 12th March 2014 and they’re currently 15% lower at 342p.

Poundland stock seems to be ‘on watch’ with investors in this segment, due to its stronger-than-average weighting to UK consumer strength, competition against established value-end non-food and food (Morrisons and ASDA), and of course Aldi and Lidl.

It’s most direct rival is N. Brown Group Plc., and whilst the market expects Poundland to grow faster than N. Brown, we suspect the investment case is edged by the much more sophisticated multi-channel discount operator B&M, chaired by former Tesco CEO Terry Leahy.

For the moment we need to take Poundland at its word, after it said in November its performance for the full-year was “dependent on delivering a good Christmas”. Its next earnings report has yet to be scheduled.

At the same time consensus forecasts place B&M net income for 2015 at £102.85m, against £33.5m for Poundland, possibly evidence of the former’s purchase of a majority stake in Germany’s JA Woll discount chain last year.

There’s evidence of contradiction here: although neither B&M nor Poundland currently yield a value comparable to the market average, the expected price-to-earnings gradient of B&M sharply lags its rival by 23%.

At the same time, B&M current enterprise value over sales would provide much for the group to grow into (and I think it’s very likely to) with a near 150% premium against Poundland’s.

The balance is that for this fledgling low-cost segment, which is very likely to be the retailing mainstream of the future, for now I opt for B&M Value.

Trading Update

Group sales for the 13 weeks ending 27 December 2014 increased by 28.8% (2013: 26.4%) to £527.9m (2013: £409.9m).[1]



The UK business sales for the 13 week period increased by 20.5% to £493.8m (2013: £409.9m) with like-for-like sales growth of +4.5% on top of a strong quarter the previous year (2013: +6.2%).





http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4963827

B&M European Value Retail SA (BME:LSE) set a new 52-week high during Friday's trading session when it reached 326.25. Over this period, the share price is up 8.07%.

23 Jan Numis 350.00 Add
23 Jan Canaccord... 285.00 Hold

Jingle tills at B&M as shares hit new high

SHARES in discount store chain B&M hit a high yesterday as festive trading got a boost from savvy shoppers seeking gifts and decorations.


Published: 12:14, Sat, January 24, 2015






Ex-Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is the head of B&M


The £3billion company, chaired by former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy, lifted sales at its 417 UK stores by a fifth to £493.8million in the three months to December 27.

Chief executive Simon Arora said: “We believe we are becoming a destination store for these important seasonal categories.”

Like-for-like turnover was up 4.5 per cent, slower than the 6.2 per cent of the previous year.

It opened 24 new stores over the period and is on course to trade from at least 50 additional stores in the UK this financial year. At least 45 new stores are earmarked for next year.

B&M, whose shares were worth 270p when it floated last June, rose 6p to 308p.




http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/553998/Shares-discount-store-chain-B-M-new-high-following-Christmas

27 Jan Credit Suisse 366.00 Outperform

2 Feb Jefferies... 350.00 Buy

Result of placing in B&M European Value Retail S.A
RNS
RNS Number : 9694D
BofA Merrill Lynch
04 February 2015


4 February 2015

PLACING OF 120,000,000 ORDINARY SHARES IN B&M EUROPEAN VALUE RETAIL S.A. ("B&M") BY CD&R EUROPEAN VALUE RETAIL INVESTMENT S.À R.L. ("CD&R")

CD&R announce that they have sold an aggregate of 120,000,000 ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") in B&M, representing approximately 12% of B&M's issued ordinary share capital, at a price of 320 pence per share (the "Placing") raising aggregate gross sale proceeds of £384m. Following its announcement released on 3 February 2015, CD&R decided to increase the placement of shares in B&M from 100,000,000 shares to 120,000,000 shares due to strong investor demand

Following settlement of the Placing, which is expected to take place on 6 February 2015, CD&R will continue to hold approximately 17.4% of B&M's ordinary shares.

As a result of the Placing, it is anticipated that the free float of B&M will be above 50%, satisfying one of the conditions for inclusion into the FTSE UK Index Series, which includes FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE All Share indices.

Merrill Lynch International ("BofA Merrill Lynch") and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch ("Deutsche Bank") acted as Joint Bookrunners in connection with the Placing. Lazard & Co., Limited ("Lazard") acted as financial adviser to CD&R in connection with the Placing.

B&M private equity owner lands £384m after cutting stake

Clayton Dubilier & Rice slashes stake in discount chain chaired by Terry Leahy, making it eligible for FTSE 250 inclusion

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11389503/BandM-private-equity-owner-lands-84m-after-cutting-stake.html

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Private equity cashes in on B&M as former Tesco boss Leahy takes advantage of tax haven

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2940151/Private-equity-cashes-B-M-former-Tesco-boss-Leahy-takes-advantage-tax-haven.html

Holding(s) in Company

Holdings by CG Management Companies and Funds: 52,140,113 5.214%

● Capital Research and Management Company

●EuroPacific Growth Fund




http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4973481

RUTH SUNDERLAND: Taxing questions for former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy as he takes leading role at B&M




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/comment/article-2943240/RUTH-SUNDERLAND-Taxing-questions-former-Tesco-boss-Sir-Terry-Leahy-takes-leading-role-B-M.html

17 Feb Nomura 280.00 Neutral

18 Mar Deutsche Bank 325.00 Buy

Preliminary results


HIGHLIGHTS



● Group revenues increased by +29.5% to £1,646.8m (2014: £1,272.0m);

● UK like-for-like sales +4.4% (2014: +6.5%)

● Group adjusted EBITDA increased by 33.6% to £174.2m (2014: £130.4m)

● Group EBITDA increased by 33.3% to £150.2m (2014: £112.7m)

● Adjusted profit before tax increased by 55.7% to £135.0m (2014: £86.7m)

● Adjusted diluted earnings per share 10.3p (2014: 6.9p)

● Diluted earnings per share 3.4p (2014: -1.9p)

● 52 net new stores opened in the UK in the period

● Strong pipeline of further new stores, and revised guidance of 60 net new openings expected for the 2016 financial year

● Integration of Jawoll proceeding to plan with increased direct sourcing and one new format pilot store opened in the period

● Operating cashflow £152.9m (2014: £114.7m)

● Net debt reduced to £381m from £432.8m in 2014

● Recommended final dividend of 2.5p per share to be paid on 7 August 2015 (pro rata total dividend for the year 3.4p)

B&M: Deutsche Bank reiterates buy and lifts target to 350p.