NEWS | Round-up NEWS IN BRIEF
• The chef and host of the Great British Bake Off Prue Leith has been named as the new ambassador for Omega Kitchens.
• Independent kitchen specialist Brandt Design has revealed its plans to launch into the Welsh market with the opening of a new showroom in Cardiff’s city centre.
• Kudos Showers has made a £650,000 investment in extra production capability at its plant in Elmsfield Park, south Cumbria.
• Online retailer Plumbworld has reported a 30% growth in sales from £47.4 million to £61.5m for the year to December 2020. 2021 Q1 sales are already at almost £20m and profits topping £2.5m.
• Lixil, parent company of Grohe, has set up a new sub-region of its EMENA business to further drive growth in the Nordics, Baltics, Benelux, the UK and Ireland.
• Heritage Bathrooms has doubled its guarantees across its range of bathroom taps from five to ten years.
• Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Whirlpool UK Appliances has supported FoodCycle, a charity that uses surplus food to make community meals as a way to fight food waste, food poverty and loneliness across the UK.
• Samsung has committed to offset the lifetime carbon footprint of all its washing machines and tumble-dryers purchased in the UK and Ireland between March 24 and June 1.
• BC Designs and Bayswater Bathrooms have helped to support the reopening of Horsforth Sports Club, one of the UK’s largest children’s sports clubs. The Leeds- based club, provides facilities for more than 90 children’s teams.
• Sub-Zero & Wolf is now offering five-year parts-and-labour warranties on all of its new indoor products ordered on or after April 1.
• Moores has expanded its apprenticeship programme. The company has increased the number of apprenticeships across the wider business with a new HR apprentice who will be with the company for two years.
• Bespoke KBB furniture maker Arbor Lane Interiors is doubling the size of its workshop to 10,000sq ft to meet growing demand for its products.
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Shortages may worsen in wake of Suez blockage
JUST AS retailers can open again, the knock-on effects of the Suez Canal blockage on an already stretched supply chain could worsen product shortages, say some experts.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) flagged up the Suez Canal blockage as a further blow to the supply chain as demand in many sectors is outstripping availability. The vital shipping link was taken out of action on March 23 by the Ever Given container ship and did not reopen until March 29. It is estimated that 10-12% of global trade passes through the canal and the stranded ship held up around $9.6 billion (£7bn) of trade goods each day. The CLC said: “Unfortunately, this means the availability issues we are currently experiencing are likely to worsen before they improve on imported products such as screws, fixing, plumbing items, sanitaryware, shower enclosures, electrical products and appliances.”
Experts warn that the effects of the blockage could last for months. A spokesman for researcher IHS Markit said: “However long it takes, the damage has been done, with carriers warning to expect months of supply chain disruption and even tighter capacity as Asia imports surge to Europe and North America.”
The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA) said that freight terminals will suffer high levels of congestion and a severe drop in vessel arrivals and container discharge, which will “aggravate the already ongoing shortages of empty containers available at ports.” Commenting on the situation, Bill Miller, managing director of the Kitchen Bathroom Buying Group (KBBG), said: “With independent showrooms in England and Scotland now open, anything that could lead to delays in supply is very unwelcome. The industry is gearing itself up for what is expected to be a busy spring and summer trading period due to pent-up demand and the desire of consumers to invest in their home, with a new kitchen or bathroom high on their wish list.”
Chief executive of white-good manufacturers association Amdea Paul Hide said: “A lot of shipping was diverted south, so that wouldn’t necessarily delay arrival by more than seven to 10 days. Now that freight is flowing again, we believe that any supply constraints as a direct result of this issue will be short-lived. Small appliances from Asia are likely to travel that route, but very few major domestic appliances come from Asia, so we don’t believe supplies of these goods will be affected. However, it is expected that the main impact will be to keep the cost of shipping high.”
Restart grants unfair to KBB showrooms, says retailer
A KBB retailer has told of his disappointment at the amount of funding he is set to receive from local government to help reopen his business after months of lockdowns. Russell Buckley, managing director of Stuart Henry Kitchens in the Wirral, believes that there is an unfair distribution of the money on the high street, and KBB showrooms and other independent retailers are not given sufficient grants.
The restart grant can be up to £6,000, and it is available to any English, rate-paying retail business that has been classed as non-essential during the pandemic. The hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors are also entitled to a grant of up to £18,000. Local councils are allowed to use their discretion to determine whether businesses meet this grant scheme’s eligibility criteria. Wirral Council decided that there would be three scales to the grant. Those with a “Rateable Value of exactly £15,000 or under”, such as Buckley’s, are being offered £2,667. Only businesses with a “Rateable Value of exactly £51,000 or over” are eligible for the full £6,000. Hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gyms have the same scale by Wirral council, but their grant starts at £6,000 and ends with the full grant of £18,000. Buckley explained: “I thought that we would be getting the £6k because that is what the Government said, but I was perplexed to find that hairdressers, leisure and gyms would
· May 2021
be getting £8k. In our precinct, there are two hairdressers, both with the same rateable value as ourselves, and they have had the furlough and previous grants that we received. They have been closed the same amount of time as us, yet they will be getting £8k and us £2,667. “We have been hit really hard by this latest closure and our financial year runs March 1 to end of February, which has meant that we have been closed for seven of the 12 months because we had to. December is a non-starter for us anyway, and when we reopened last June after the first lockdown, we were starting from scratch. It’s the same this time, no leads, no booked-in sales no income.” “I have no idea why gyms, hospitality and leisure are getting more than small independent retailers. This latest restart grant does not cover the rent. Of course, although we opened today [April 12], in this industry, you can’t walk in today and walk out with a fitted kitchen, it will be a couple of months before we will have projects starting.”
Picture of Ever Given by Kees Torn
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