Discount retailer B&M's shares plunge as quarterly UK growth disappoints

(Reuters) -Discount retailer B&M on Tuesday reported its first like-for-like quarterly revenue growth in over a year in its main UK market, but slower-than-expected gains sent shares tumbling to their lowest since April 2020.

While favourable weather boosted demand for garden and outdoor products and the April Easter pushed some of B&M's sales into the first quarter of its financial year to March 2026 from the January-March period, the company's UK operations remain under pressure.

Like-for-like revenue growth of 1.3% in its UK market in the quarter ended on June 28, fell short of Visible Alpha consensus of 2.6%, analysts at Jefferies said in a note.

Shares of B&M, which sells everything from hats and heaters to toys and food, fell as much as 10% to 232 pence by 0717 GMT.

New CEO Tjeerd Jegen, who took the helm last month, said that while like-for-like sales in the UK were growing, there was a "significant opportunity and requirement" to improve execution into and beyond the critical holiday sales period.

"Looking ahead, my focus is on building on our strong foundations, leveraging our market position, and continuing to deliver exceptional value for our customers," Jegen said in a statement.

Total group revenue grew 4.4% to 1.41 billion pounds ($1.89 billion) in the first quarter, of which the UK accounted for 81%.

British retailers are bracing for another tough year ahead, with costs related to wages and insurance contributions expected to rise, while economic uncertainty is expected to keep weighing on consumer confidence. Many also fear new tax legislation could increase costs and lower hiring.

B&M in June had warned that rising costs, largely related to labour, would weigh on profits in the current financial year, with its underlying fixed cost base set to increase by about 75 million pounds. It did not provide any update to that in Tuesday's statement.

($1 = 0.7441 pounds)

(Reporting by Aatrayee Chatterjee and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Tomasz Janowski)