Liverpool retailer B&M admits it will take 12 to 18 months to fully implement its turnaround plan as latest half-year results show pre-tax profits plummeting from £169m to £75m. Tony McDonough reports
Weak sales have sent pre-tax profits plummeting at Liverpool value retail giant B&M with the company now implementing a turnaround strategy.
However, chief executive Tjeerd Jegen admitted this strategy would take 12 to 18 months before the full benefits were apparent.
He said: “Our Back to B&M Basics plan is progressing and we are taking decisive actions to improve our retail execution and restore our financial performance.
“While the full financial benefits will build over time, I am confident our actions can restore sustainable like-for-like sales growth at B&M UK, which is our number one priority.”
In the 26 weeks to September 27, 2025, B&M, which has its headquarters and main distribution centre in Speke in south Liverpool, reported overall revenues of £2.75bn – 4% higher than the same period last year.
B&M operates more than 1,100 stores in the UK and France as well as a number of Heron frozen food stores in the UK. Pre-tax profits during the half year plummeted from £169m to just £75m.
New store openings and good trading momentum in B&M France enabled B&M to grow revenue by 4% during the half year. B&M UK revenue grew by 3.5% as nine net new stores were added, but UK sales were “broadly flat”.
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In the report to the stock exchange, the newly appointed Tjeerd Jegen added: “The UK consumer remains under pressure from cost-of-living concerns and fiscal uncertainty, the impact of which is reflected in our recent trading.
“For B&M UK, this has been at the lower end of the low single-digit positive to low single-digit negative percentage assumption range we outlined on October 7. Our Back to B&M Basics initiatives are also in their early stages.
“However, with the main portion of the important Golden Quarter (Christmas trading period) still ahead of us, we maintain our guidance of a second-half UK like-for-like percentage growth rate of between low single-digit negative and low single-digit positive levels.”