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B&M European Value Retail SA on Thursday reduced its dividend and announced changes in its leadership team as it tries to improve performance after a troubled year. The Luxembourg-based variety goods store chain in the UK and France said pretax profit plunged 56% to £75 million in the 26 weeks to September 27 from £169 million the year prior. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decreased 30% to £191 million from £274 million, in line with guidance which was lowered in October after an accounting error was identified. Revenue rose 4.0% to £2.75 billion from £2.64 billion, including B&M UK sales growth of 3.5%. UK like-for-like sales rose 0.1% with positive volume and value LFL sales in General Merchandise offset by a decline in fast-moving consumer goods LFL sales. Post-tax free cash flow of £51 million was down from £73 million a year ago, reflecting working capital outflows as inventory builds ahead of the ’golden quarter’ and continued investment in new stores and infrastructure. Net debt to last-twelve-months adjusted Ebitda leverage ratio of 1.6 times ticked up from 1.2x, above the top of the company‘s 1.0x to 1.5x target range. The dividend was lowered to 3.5p from 5.3p while the company said it will look at share buybacks once the redomicile process to Jersey is completed. The ‘redomicile process is expected to complete in the new calendar year and will enable share buybacks, which the board has confirmed as its preferred option for returning excess capital, once shareholder approvals are in place,’ the firm said. Looking ahead, the firm retained full-year adjusted Ebitda guidance of £470 million to £520 million but said B&M UK LFL trading early in the third quarter has been at the lower end of the ‘low single-digit positive to low single-digit negative’ percentage guidance range. Nonetheless, Chief Executive Tjeerd Jegen said he remains confident of restoring sustainable LFL sales growth at B&M UK, which he called ‘our number one priority’ and, in the medium term, low double-digit UK adjusted Ebitda margins. Jegen took over at B&M in June after disappointing trading updates at the firm saw previous CEO Alex Russo step down. Shares in B&M, which have fallen 57% in the last 12 months, were down 0.1% at 163.85p each in London on Thursday. On Thursday, B&M named former Mobico Group PLC interim chief financial officer Helen Cowing as interim CFO, replacing Mike Schmidt who said he would step down in the wake of the accounting error. In addition, B&M named Simon Hathway as group trading director and said Jon Parry will take charge of Supply Chain and Retail operations. Jegen added that the ’Back to B&M Basics’ plan, unveiled in October, is progressing and ‘we are taking decisive actions to improve our retail execution and restore our financial performance.’ Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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