Discount retailer B&M has slashed its profit guidance for the second time in a month, following the discovery of a £7m accounting error.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, the London-listed firm also confirmed its finance chief plans to step down.

The company stated that £7m in overseas freight costs were “not correctly recognised in cost of goods sold,” an issue it linked to an operating system update earlier this year.

It told investors that the underlying issue has been resolved, but that it will have a financial impact on its results this year.

Adjusted earnings for the half year to September are set to have been around £191m, reducing its previous estimate of £198 million.

B&M said group adjusted earnings are now set to be between £470m and £520m for the financial year, having previously guided to between £510m and £560m.

Bosses at the retail firm said they intend to launch a comprehensive “third-party review” into the incident.

It added that it still expects like-for-like sales growth to be “between low-single-digit negative and low-single-digit positive levels” over the second half of the year.

The update comes only two weeks after B&M blamed soaring costs and a slump in sales as it warned over profits.

It had reported a worse-than-expected 1.1% drop in UK like-for-like sales in the second quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, the firm also said it was impacted by a £30m jump in wage costs and a £14m hit in packaging taxes over the latest half-year.

It therefore launched a series of turnaround measures in an effort to help improve its performance, including cutting prices of some of its key value items.

On Monday, B&M also confirmed that chief financial officer Mike Schmidt has said he will step down from the role.

It has launched a search for his replacement, with Mr Schmidt staying on until the new finance boss is appointed.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: “Just when it looked as if life couldn’t get any worse for B&M, along comes an accounting error which has ultimately cost the finance boss his job.

“The situation is highly embarrassing for the board and even worse for shareholders.

“While CFO Mike Schmidt hasn’t been fired, there was no way he could have stayed with the company given the severity of the error discovered in the retailer’s accounts.”

Shares were down 17.9% to 178.1p on Monday morning, slipping to record low levels.

Scottish Greens will “call out the lies of big polluters”, co-leader Gillian Mackay said as she branded plans to develop the Rosebank oil field as “pure climate vandalism”.

Ms Mackay spoke out as demonstrators opposed to drilling the site gathered in London on Saturday.

Plans to develop the North Sea field – which is estimated to contain up to 300 million barrels of oil – have been submitted again by owners Equinor.

However, Ms Mackay told the Scottish Green Party conference in Edinburgh: “We have to be the party that calls out the lies of big polluters.”

Ms Mackay, who was elected co-leader with fellow MSP Ross Greer in August, told her fellow Scottish Greens: “Drilling for new oil and gas in fields like Rosebank will do nothing to lower energy bills or protect our planet.

“It is pure climate vandalism and we have to stop Rosebank.”

Development of the oil field, which lies 80 miles west of Shetland, had been approved by the Conservative government in 2023 but that decision was challenged in the courts in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling which said the emissions created from burning fossil fuels should be considered when granting permission for new drilling sites.

Her comments came as Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, insisted the UK is “one of the most nature depleted countries in the world”.

Addressing protesters in London, Mr Polanski said: “The very least this Government need to do is to stop making things worse.”

Ms Mackay also used her conference speech to hit out at the UK Government over the closure of Scotland’s only oil refinery in Grangemouth.

Hundreds of jobs were lost after owners Petroineos closed the refinery earlier this year, with Ms Mackay, who grew up in the area saying: “I’m sick of governments and corporations using tags like ‘just transition’ as a cheap slogan.

“What happened in Grangemouth is not a just transition.

“Our communities don’t need empty words, words don’t pay the bills, or put food on the table.

“They need real plans to provide real jobs and real opportunities.”

Ms Mackay insisted: “That site could have been saved. Labour promised to save it – they promised £200 million – and the message from the workers is clear: show us the money.”

She said that the Grangemouth plant “could have been nationalised”, adding: “We cannot leave the future of our communities in the hands of billionaires who are all too happy to abandon us when the money dries up.”

With the Scottish Greens having set the target of overtaking Labour in May’s Holyrood ballot, Ms Mackay said her party was “on the verge of a historic election” with the “chance to elect more green voices than ever before”.

She also told how the birth of her first child, Callan, in June meant she had “never felt more committed to building a greener Scotland”.

She joked that she was speaking at Saturday’s conference “in relatively one piece, without too much baby dribble on me” as she said the Green model, with two co-leaders at the helm, had allowed her to take on the challenge.

“In other parties there would have been a whole load of barriers to a new mum being elected to a leadership role,” Ms Mackay said.

“It is only because of our co-leadership model and the support of ordinary members, I have been afforded this opportunity.”

She continued: “The support I have had says something about our party and the values we stand for.

“When I think about the country I want us to be, it is one where we support each other, one where we lift each other up and one where we do things differently.”

New Delhi: As gold prices continue their upward climb, Zoho Corporation’s Co-founder and CEO, Sridhar Vembu, has raised concerns for investors. Sharing his thoughts in response to an op-ed by former IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, Vembu cautioned that rising global debt levels pose a serious risk. He also emphasized that gold, in his view, isn’t an investment but a safeguard—an insurance against uncertain economic times.

Sridhar Vembu shared his thoughts on X, saying, “Gold is also flashing a big warning signal. I don’t think of gold as an investment, I think of it as insurance against systemic financial risk. Ultimately finance is all about trust and when debt levels reach this high, trust breaks down.”

I agree with Dr Gita Gopinath.

The US stock market is in a clear and massive bubble.

The degree of leverage in the system means that we cannot rule out a systemic event like the global financial crisis of 2008-9.

Gold is also flashing a big warning signal. I don’t think of… https://t.co/7xVPL3FXDq
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) October 18, 2025

Vembu Warns: Rising Debt Could Erode Financial Trust

Vembu emphasized that the foundation of finance lies in trust. However, he cautioned that with global debt levels reaching alarming heights, this trust is at serious risk of breaking down.

Gold Shines Bright With Record Highs Ahead of Diwali

Friday marked the fifth straight day of gains for gold in international markets, with prices climbing 1.23 per cent to 4,379.93 dollars . The rally has been strong across the globe, and in India, festive demand ahead of Diwali pushed domestic gold prices to an all-time high of Rs 1,32,953 per 10 grams. So far this year, gold has delivered a remarkable 70 percent return—far outpacing the modest 8% rise in the NSE Nifty 50 index.