Discount chain B&M achieves new £450m banking facilities
Liverpool-based discount retailer, B&M European Value Retail, has completed a £450m refinancing of its bank facilities.
The extended group facilities, provided by a syndicate of seven banks, comprise a £225m term loan and a £225m revolving credit facility (RCF), with a five-year maturity, plus two additional one-year extension options subject to mutual consent with the bank syndicate.
B&M said, together, these will fully cover its anticipated bank borrowing requirements and will replace the existing £300m term loan and £155m RCF that were expected to mature in April 2025.
The thresholds on the financial covenant ratio and applicable interest margins are equivalent to existing levels but will now reflect and be calculated under IFRS16 accounting conventions.
Due to the applicable terms of the security structure of the group’s borrowings, Heron Foods and Heron Food Group will now also act as guarantors of the group facilities and also the group’s outstanding £400m 2025 senior secured notes, and its £250m 2028 senior secured notes.
In January this year the Speke-based group reported strong ‘Golden Quarter’ sales over the all-important Christmas trading period.
In a third quarter trading update for the period to December 24, it revealed 12.3% total group revenue growth in the reporting period, hitting £1.567bn sales.
Its UK business reported a 10.3% boost in sales, with one-year like-for-like sales growing by 6.4%.
Trading momentum in B&M France continued through the third quarter, with revenue up 24.9%, and the Heron Foods arm also achieved good trading momentum, showing a 22.5% increase in revenues during the quarter.
