page_title: B&M
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: B&M / History
caption_attribution_description: English: b &amp; m home store - Cavendish Street Retail Park
context_page_description: B&M is a UK variety retailer formed in 1978. It employs over 28,000 staff. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
context_section_description: The business was founded by Malcolm Billington as Billington & Mayman and the first store opened in Cleveleys, Lancashire, United Kingdom in 1978 and was acquired by Simon and Bobby Arora from Phildrew Investments in December 2004.
  In September 2006, the business saw significant growth, by acquiring the GlynWebb chain of Do It Yourself (DIY) stores, and converting them into the B&M Homestore format. The company also acquired a number of former Kwik Save, Woolworths and Au-Naturale stores.
  The business moved into a new office and modern 620,000 sq ft (58,000 m²) distribution centre based in Speke, Liverpool in 2010, and new operations, logistics and finance directors joined the business in 2011. In May 2011, B&M also purchased a number of Focus DIY stores.
  In December 2012, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, one of the world's leading private equity funds, acquired a significant stake in B&M, and Sir Terry Leahy and Vindi Banga joined the Board of Directors.
  In March 2014, the business acquired a majority stake in German discount retailer Jawoll, and then opened a new 500,000 sq ft distribution centre in Speke, Liverpool. In June 2014, the business was the subject of an initial public offering. However, upon detailed analysis by the Columbia Business school, it was found the IPO of B&M was overhyped due to an already saturated market in the UK.
  In November 2014, the business opened its 400th store (in Stockport) and claimed to serve in excess of three million customers every week.
  During July 2017, the company completed the acquisition of the smaller frozen food store chain Heron Foods for £152 million.
caption: B&M, Keighley (2010)
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