£200m divi boost at B&M

SHAREHOLDERS in retailer B&M will enjoy a £200m special dividend after ‘bargain hunting’ shoppers boosted sales at its discount outlets.

Revenues at the FtSe 100 firm hit £1.57bn in the three months to December 24, a jump of 12.3pc compared to the same period a year earlier.

B&M, which offers a wide range of products at discounted prices, now expects profits for the full year to the end of March to be between £560m and £580m, ahead of City forecasts of £557m. Shares crept higher, rising 0.5pc, or 2.2p, to 447.4p.

It will pay a special dividend of 20p a share next month – good news for the Arora family, set for around £14m for their 7pc stake.

Manchester brothers Simon and Bobby Arora bought B&M in 2004 when it had just 21 stores. It now has more than 1,000. Simon Arora stepped down as chief executive in September but remains on the board while his brother is group trading director.

Susannah Streeter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘the appetite for bargain hunting has increased sharply amid the cost of living squeeze with shoppers flooding into discount stores. B&M is benefiting from this with its cut-price products piled high during the pre-Christmas period.

‘Although shopper habits in the months ahead will still be hard to predict, there are some encouraging signs across the retail sector that consumer confidence is continuing to recover, which should buoy up spend.’