Liverpool value retailer B&M offers one of the two brothers who built up the business a bonus worth up to £16m to secure his commitment until 2026. Tony McDonough reports
Value retailer B&M is offering a bonus worth up to £16m to Bobby Arora, one of the two brothers who transformed the business into a retail powerhouse.
He is currently group trading director and, subject to a number of financial and performance criteria, will be paid the additional bonus between now and the end of 2026. His brother Simon stood down as chief executive in 2022.
Bobby and Simon were already running a successful wholesale business in 2005 when they acquired B&M, which started with a single store in Blackpool in 1978. When the Arora’s bought the chain it had a turnover of £65m and just 21 outlets.
In 2010 they relocated it to a 620,000 sq ft purpose-built headquarters and distribution centre at Estuary Business Park in Speke in south Liverpool. They did this with grant and relocation costs from Liverpool City Council.
In 2012 private equity house Clayton Dubilier & Rice bought a 60% stake in the business and two years later it was floated on the stock exchange with a value of £2.7bn. The Arora family retains a stake in the business.
B&M, which employs 39,000 people, operates 1,135 stores. This includes 707 UK B&M outlets and 113 B&M stores in France. It also runs 315 Heron frozen food stores in the UK.
It enjoys annual sales of around £5bn and its current market value is almost £5.6bn. B&M’s main UK-based rival in the value retail space is Home Bargains which also has its headquarters in Liverpool.
READ MORE: Quarterly sales exceed £1.3bn at B&M
READ MORE: Wirral Line set for roll-out of new trains
In a statement to the stock exchange on Friday, B&M said: “The company has entered into an agreement with Bobby Arora, group trading director, which will secure his commitment to the company until at least March 2026.
“Bobby has played an instrumental role in developing the B&M customer proposition and delivering the company’s long term growth and profitability.
“However, as Bobby is not an executive director on the board, he has historically not received a performance-based long term incentive plan award.
“The board believes that continuing to align his interests with those of B&M is important to the long-term success of the business and has therefore entered into an agreement with Bobby which will deliver cash bonus payments over and above his normal remuneration package.”