Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
B&M European Value Retail shares slumped on Monday as the embattled company slashed its profits guidance and announced the departure of its chief executive.
At 268.5p per share, B&M shares were last 7.7% lower in start-of-week trading, making it the FTSE 250’s biggest daily faller.
For the financial year ending March 2025, the discount retailer said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to range between £605 million and £625 million.
This is down from £629 million in fiscal 2024.
B&M had narrowed its estimates to a range of £620 million to £650 million last month, reducing the upper limit by £10 million.
Halved In A Year
B&M said that the guidance downgrade “reflects the current trading performance of the business, an uncertain economic outlook and the potential impact of exchange rate volatility on the valuation of our stock and creditor balances which is a non-cash item.”
The retailer operates 1,112 stores in the UK under the ‘B&M,’ ‘Heron Foods’ and ‘B&M Express’ brands, and another 134 ‘B&M’ outlets in France.
Its share price has toppled 48.7% over the past year, and it was demoted from the FTSE 100 in December’s most recent quarterly reshuffle.
Sales have slowed significantly of late, with constant currency revenue growth coming in at 2.8% in the nine months to December. This was down sharply from 8.1% in the same 2023 period.
Russo Retires
B&M also announced the retirement of chief executive Alex Russo on 30 April, 2025.
Russo – who has held the reins for just under two-and-a-half years – joined the business as chief financial officer in October 2020.
Chairperson Tiffany Hall said that “Alex has increased our store footprint in both UK and France and driven a relentless focus on high operational standards and low costs, enabling the Company to provide great products and everyday low prices to our customers whilst generating continued strong cash returns for our shareholders. We wish him well for the future.”
Analysts at Panmure Liberum said that “the retirement of Alex Russo and a downgrade are unlikely to be mutually exclusive events,” describing B&M performance during the last year as “disappointing.”
