Sales were up at discounter B&M in the first quarter.

The retailer, which has stores in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Lydney, saw sales increase by 2.4% to £1.34bn in the 13 weeks to June 29, as reported by Retail Gazette.

But like-for-likes at its core UK business were down 3.5%, which it attributed to very strong sales last year and the bad weather in April and May.

B&M opened 19 new UK stores in the first quarter and is on target to open 45 new stores this year. It said all new stores are performing ahead of expectations.

The retailer has just launched a new Everyday Value range of more than 500 core items in home, electrical and pets.