LONDON (Reuters) -B&M, the British discount retailer, said on Thursday it had good stock availability heading into the Christmas trading season, having deliberately taken delivery of imported general merchandise earlier than normal.

British retailers face delays in international supply chain. This is compounded when there are labour shortages within the UK’s transport and warehouse networks.

However, listed B&M, which sells everything from food to homewares, do-it-yourself and gardening products, said supply chains across the group remained robust.

Simon Arora CEO stated, “We responded decisively to supply chain problems by leveraging our strong suppliers relationships and have improved in-store execution.”

“We are therefore fully-stocked going into the Golden Quarter”, he stated.

Core earnings for the first half of the year fell by 4.6%, reflecting the exceptional performance last year during the pandemic lockdown.

The adjusted earnings before interest tax, deduction and amortization (EBITDA), were 282.2 million pounds (381.9 million USD) for the six-months to Sept. 25, compared with 295.6 million in the same time period in 2020.

The revenue increased by 1.2% to 2.27 Billion pounds, and it was up 26.8% over a 2-year period.

B&M is paying an interim dividend of 5.0 pence a share, up 16.3%.

The group, whose full name is B&M European Value Retail, has performed well during the pandemic. The stores could remain open despite multiple UK lockdowns. They sell food.

Shares in B&M are up 29.4% so far this year.

($1 = 0.7389 pounds)