Business at value-focused shopkeeper B&M European Value Retail (BME) should be booming when households are watching every penny, so the fact the company isn’t on a growth tear suggests tweaks to the strategy and customer proposition could be needed under new broom Tjeerd Jegen.

The recently appointed CEO will provide an experienced hand at the tiller for the variety goods retailer, whose full-year results on 4 June will be pored over for trends in the core UK business, the performance in France, an update on the new stores pipeline and B&M’s EBITDA outlook.

Jegen’s predecessor Alex Russo was supposed to take B&M on to greater things following his 2022 appointment but after just two-and-a-half years in the hot seat he was given the boot, having consistently over-promised on profit delivery.

Former Tesco (TSCO) and Ahold Delhaize (AD:VIE) executive Jegen takes the baton from interim CEO Mike Schmidt on 16 June. He will need to return B&M to like-for-like sales growth, no easy task given an increasingly price-competitive UK groceries market, as well as improve communication with analysts and shareholders irked by recent unexplained sales weakness.

In a post-close trading update (15 April), B&M reported a 3.7% rise in group revenue to £5.6 billion for the year to 29 March 2025, with positive like-for-like sales in France offsetting negative like-for-like performance in B&M UK and Heron Foods.

Disappointingly, B&M UK’s same-store sales were down 1.8% in the fourth quarter to 22 March 2025, although the retailer is lapping easier current year comparatives.

Jegen insists he is ‘passionate about working with the team to drive growth through great products, operational excellence, and a strong customer focus’ and looks forward to ‘working with the team to build on the company’s strong foundations and take it to the next level.’ 

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