UK discount retailer B&M has acquired convenience store chain Heron Food Group, with the aim of expanding the two businesses.
Heron is a discount convenience retailer operating predominantly in the North of England, with 251 stores. The company generated revenues of £274.4 million in 2016, with EBITDA of £19.1 million, and profit before tax of £8.6 million.
The deal is valued at £152 million, including the debt assumed of the Heron Group.
Future Growth
B&M says that this acquisition will allow the company to develop a new 'discount convenience grocery brand'.
Heron's owners, Andrew and David Heuck, will remain in their existing trading and finance roles within the company, and will help B&M to expand the business, opening between ten and twenty new stores per year.
"B&M is already the UK's leading general merchandise discount retailer, serving four million shoppers per week," said Simon Arora, CEO of B&M. "The addition of a complementary, proven discount convenience grocery brand to our own structural growth story gives the combined business an even longer, exciting growth runway."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
