B&M European Value Retail SA (LSE:BME)'s third-quarter trading update on 5 January should give investors a better look at how new chief executive Alex Russo has performed.
Russo took the reins in September, sandwiched in-between May’s full-year results, which showed margin pressure, and November’s half-year results, which saw a drop in UK sales.
According to AJ Bell, analysts will be looking for three key figures from the discount retailer: headline sales growth, like-for-like revenue growth, which fell by 3.9% in the first of the year in the UK, and any change in full-year earnings.
Russo confirmed his predecessor’s forecast for full-year adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) to be between £550mln and £600mln.
Analysts at AJ Bell also note that B&M is unlikely to repeat the special dividend of 25p announced in January last year due to tougher trading conditions.
Finally, any information on further store openings will be a point of interest.
B&M has a long-term plan to grow its UK estate to 950 stores, up from 700, and its presence in France to 111 stores.
The plan for the end of the current financial year, this March, had been to add 40 stores in the UK, 15 Heron Foods stores and six in France.
So far, it has opened 10 UK B&M sites, four in France and seven Heron Foods stores.