Overview

• B&M now guides full-year underlying earnings of £510m–£560m, a reduction of up to 18% from last year.
• Underlying earnings for the half-year are forecast at about £198m, roughly 28% lower year on year.
• UK like-for-like sales fell 1.1% in the second quarter, with around £30m of extra wage costs plus a £14m packaging tax weighing on profitability.
• CEO Tjeerd Jegen launched the ‘Back to B&M Basics’ plan featuring price cuts, more flexible manager specials, range simplification, and improved on‑shelf availability, with over 35% of key items reduced by an average 1.8%.
• Shares fell as much as about 17% in early trading, and management expects the recovery to take 12–18 months, with second-half growth guided between low single-digit negative and low single-digit positive.