As B&M Bargains confirms its intention to float today, Retail Week takes a closer look at the value retailer.

1

B&M completed an average of 2.7 million customer transactions per week and 138 million individual customer transactions in the year ended March 29, 2014

2

64% of B&M shoppers visit a B&M store at least once a fortnight and 42% visit at least once a week

3

42% of B&M’s customers are in the ABC1 socio-economic groups

4

The opportunity for expansion is great; about 66% of the population does not have easy access to a B&M store

5

It only carries 5,500 live SKUs at any one time. Buyers adopt a ‘one in, one out’ policy; before they can add a new SKU, they must cut another SKU in that product category to create buying power, allowing B&M to benefit from “advantageous buying terms with suppliers”

6

Only 18% of B&M’s products are at the 99p or £1 price point, which it says “differentiates” it from rivals. The biggest proportion of product, 28%, is priced between £1.01 and £3

7

Over the last three financial years B&M has recorded 6.1% average annual like-for-like revenue growth while revenue and adjusted EBITDA has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 29% and 39% respectively

8

B&M attributes its popularity to “word of mouth” – it says it undertakes minimal advertising and “is not reliant on promotions or loyalty schemes”

9

B&M expects to open approximately 40 new stores in both its current and next financial years. The group is currently targeting store sizes across a range from 8,000 up to 35,000 sq. ft

10

Last year B&M store rent costs were only 4.1% of revenue

11

Customer satisfaction is high. It achieved a net promoter score of 68% as of December 2013

12

B&M’s non transactional website attracted 1.2 million unique visits per month last year

13

It has never had to close a store due to poor economic performance