B&M: Margin rebuild to provide a cushion - upgrade to Hold

Research evidence excerpt

B&M: Margin rebuild to provide a cushion - upgrade to Hold

Deutsche Bank Group

Deutsche Numis Research

Rating Company Date

Hold B&M 16 July 2026

Recommendation

Europe Change Luxembourg

Reuters Bloomberg Exchange Ticker Price at 14 Jul 2026 (GBP) 204.00

BMEB.L BME LN LSE BMEB

Price Target (GBP) 185.00

Retail

Retail - Non Food ADR ISIN 52-week range (GBP) 264.10155.25-

BMRRY US05590Y1001

Margin rebuild to provide a cushion -

Valuation & Risks upgrade to Hold

Adam Cochrane

DB View Research Analyst

The B&M Back to Basics strategy is a sensible answer to the sustained +44-20-754-17812

underperformance under prior management, in our view. Our previous negative

Shwetha Ramachandran

stance was predicated on inflation pressures on lower-income consumers, Research Associate

pressure on B&M margins from price investment, value perception needing to be

improved, and lack of online offer making the brand less relevant to changing

Benjamin Yokyong-Zoega

consumer habits. Whilst not all of these issues have been resolved, we see less

Research Analyst

downward pressure on the consumer, changes to de minimis import duty relief may

+44-20-754-12338

be accelerated, and we believe that 1Q will represent trough UK LFL alongside a

better-than-expected gross margin. Accordingly, we increase our FY27 gross

Key changes

margin expectation, which sees our PBT estimate increase by 7% to £282m, and we

Rating Sell to Hold ↑

raise our PT to 200p from 185p. With the stock trading on c.10x Cal 2 PE and c.11%

Source: Deutsche Bank

FCF yield, we upgrade to Hold.

Price/price relative

What could make us more positive on the stock? 1000

Fundamentally we would need to see a return to UK LFL growth. The -2.3% 1Q UK

LFL was driven by a weak April (down c.-7%) with May/June broadly flat. FMCG is 500