Member Info for Zanab

I hope so for you SJ. I honestly won't buy in until it goes quite a bit lower and even then, I don't like the market or the current state of the business so may pass.

On a positive note, the import duty loophole should get closed that has been abused by Temu and Shein. Also, the current economic figures have hopefully acted like a bucket of cold water being poured of the government's head and sobered them up about the fact that you cannot just simply implement large tax increases on businesses and being in stupid employment laws without fudging things up.

We have diverged from other major economies on inflation and employment. Hmm... Anti-government rant over 😂

I'd actually say that the dividend cut is a positive imo. Debt needs to be paid down aggressively. If anyone is still holding shares for the short-term, they need to seriously think about this investment. Get the debt off the balance sheet. Clearly this is not going back to £3 by the end of the year as the cheerleaders kept saying.

Bud, it's like 5 minutes into trading. 😂

I struggled to see a positive in the results. This is now a leap a faith imo. Profit down, debt up, dividend down, l4l down and the last one against weak comparators. It's hard to see today being anything but a down day.

Sometimes I wish I shorted the things I'm monitoring yet think will get cheaper... Then I remember how sometimes markets don't act rationally.

Getting customers through the door is about low prices and an offering that customers want that is presented in a practical way. It's not rocket science. Granted, the economy for physical retail has been harsh. Something tells me that people wouldn't have wanted to hear that they will be getting lower profits in the past few years.

It should have happened before; it's not the current guy's fault. He hasn't had a fair run yet so let's see if he delivers.

Aceo, the market is still there and doing well enough. B&M are just losing it.

Lidl: https://corporate.lidl.co.uk/media-centre/pressreleases/2025/lidl-financial-results-2025

Aldi: https://www.aldipresscentre.co.uk/business-news/aldi-announces-record-1-6bn-expansion-plan-to-meet-uks-demand-for-discount/

Home Bargains: https://www.cityam.com/home-bargains-billionaire-pays-himself-over-1bn-as-sales-and-profit-surge/

Temu: https://www.cityam.com/temu-uk-sales-and-profit-double-as-shein-court-battle-looms/

Not an expert, but you don't need to be an expert to realise that the company is losing share. You just need to survey the key competitors performance.

No need to be bitter.

FTM, perhaps, but I noted accumulation far before the dividend was mentioned if you look back.

Agreed on that. Things look very promising for Topps. Here's to good times ahead hopefully!

What is really impressive is the execution across all of its businesses. Growth was everywhere this year. I am disappointed to have lost the CEO and CFO, but they've laid a great foundation.

I see my accumulation theory is now being echoed on advfn. Let's see if it is too early to tell but totally makes sense.

On another note, alfista, do you still have that bridge for sale, bud'?

The only issue is that on a inflation-adjusted basis is that FMCG l4l will be down over 5%. Granted, even the resilient retailers are generally notching up below-inflation l4l, but they are positive.

It's certain imo and no secret: B&M is losing market share. It needs to buck that trend or profits will continue to decline obviously, and the special dividend scrapping, which I said ages ago and believe was shot down and accused of having an 'agenda', brings a good chance this gets dragged even lower

It's hard to see this recovering in a matter of months as I always said. It's a healthy market with plenty of competition. Retail recoveries need to be earned; this isn't like the covid bounce back. It's nice to see some of the opinions I stated long ago now being echoed and SOME sobriety.

Like I said, a winner, FTM. I also said this was being brought down for accumulation. Now, we're a matter of weeks away from the final div, so let's see where it goes.

There's a good chance that this yields 10%+ in a few years on today's price.

Fair value could fall within a very low range if gravity does its thing and sales performance remains poor. Under that scenario there really isn't any discount here. Under another scenario, maybe.

Lol, I remember the flak I got when I said EBITDA is meaningless. Maybe just don't use it. Do your own research and calculations.

I am finding these exchanges funny though. Basically paragraph upon paragraph of what should take a couple of sentences.

:)

I've been saying for a while they should cut the special. People didn't want to listen. To pay it now is just irresponsible.

:)

It's criminal that Shein get away with what they do. The whole business model is propped up by heavy subsidies and tax loopholes

FF, I've always said I'd cut the special and just invest in rock-bottom prices.

Forget the post-covid margins and focus on being competitive. I've mentioned Aldi and Lidl a lot. They are not perfect competitors but good ones. Btw, Aldi and Lidl don't make mega margins either but are excellent businesses.

You've got to put in the work when it comes to this stuff.

Imagine how low this would be if the CEO buys didn't pump it up.

"As previously disclosed, B&M UK's like-for-like ("LFL") sales are expected to be the principal driver of the outcome within this range, for which we reaffirm our assumption of a second half UK LFL percentage growth rate of between low-single-digit negative and low-single-digit positive levels."

Leaves more questions than answers. If you're into for the long haul then could be okay, but if you're here for 5 mins then you're gambling.

Commiserations to all investors, except one or two very clever people I've interacted with.