// B&M offloads controlling stake in German retailer Jawoll for €12.5m (£10.8m)
// B&M had put Jawoll last November after it wrote down the value of its 89 stores
// Jawoll made a loss of £15.4m in the year to March 31, 2019
B&M announced to the City this morning that it has completed the sale of its German retail business five months after opening a strategic review into its performance.
The discount retailer said its 80 per cent controlling stake in Jawoll was sold to a consortium led by AC Curtis Salta for €12.5 million (£10.8 million) .
Completion of the transaction, which is conditional upon German competition authority clearance being granted, is expected to occur within the next 28 days or by a long stop date of June 1.
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B&M said €2.5 million of the deal will be payable upon completion, with the remaining €10 million payable on December 31 conditional to the ongoing trading of the business.
The new owners also agreed to repay Jawoll’s bank debt.
The news comes after B&M put Jawoll under review last November, when poor trading in its German business was largely attributed to the 70.5 per cent plunge in B&M’s overall pre-tax loss to £32.2 million.
B&M also wrote down the value of Jawoll’s 89 stores and in the year to March 31, 2019, the German retailer on its own made a loss of £15.4 million.
With Jawoll no longer part of the business, B&M continues to trade from around 650 stores in the UK and around 100 in France, where it operates the Babou chain.
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