Retailer’s share price hits record high on profit growth and accelerated store opening plan

B&M’s share price has continued setting new records, after a positive update on its performance saw another 4% rise.

The retailer has seen its share price double since the early April, but is also trading 35% higher than in February, before Covid-19 impacted the markets.

The group joined the FTSE earlier this month and now has a market value of more than £5bn, with its recent rise placing it above Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.

B&M revealed its revenues in the first half of the year had increased 25% and its adjusted EBITDA was expected to be £285m, above the £250m-£270m it had forecast just two months ago.

It also plans to accelerate store openings, with a flurry in the final quarter of the year now scheduled to take the annual net total to between 40-45 stores.

B&M’s chief executive Simon Arora said: “Our group has performed well in the first half. Our business model is proving well-attuned to the evolving needs of customers, given our combination of everyday value across a broad range of product categories being sold at convenient out-of-town locations.”

B&M Group is a discount retailer with 650 B&M and 275 Heron Foods stores in the UK and 90 Babou stores in France.

The first store, Billington & Mayman, opened in Cleveleys in 1978. The chain was acquired by brothers Simon and Bobby Arora in 2004 and the business grew quickly, taking over former Kwik Save and Woolworths sites and benefitting from a boom in the appeal of discount retailers.

The group floated in 2014, with a market value of £2.7bn.