NEWS


Wilko continues to invest in own brands and online shopping


Bunnings opens new


Folkestone site Bunnings opened its fifth Warehouse store – the first outside of the existing Homebase estate – on July 25, taking over a former B&Q site in Folkestone, Kent. The new store at Park Farm Retail Park is Kent’s first Bunnings Warehouse and follows the launch of Bunnings’ biggest store to date in Milton Keynes, as well as openings in Hemel Hempstead and the first two pilot stores in St Albans. The Folkestone store is over 74,000sq ft and carries more than 28,000 SKUs across home improvement and garden categories including a mix of international and British brands – from Purdy’s paintbrushes to Ryobi and DeWalt power tools. It features a garden centre, trade desk, timber-cutting, engraving and key-cutting services, an indoor play area and café. Like other Bunnings Warehouses, the latest outlet offers paint mixing from Johnstone’s Trade, Crown and Dulux. The store, which is run by complex manager Matt Cope, employs 95 people and created 45 new full and part-time roles. It will trade seven days a week. Mr Cope said: “It is great to finally open our doors to customers. Our team members have worked really hard to get the store ready for opening and make sure we have the expertise to help with home or garden projects.”


Wilko reported a year of solid growth with sales of £1,513 million for 2016/17 (£1,464 million 2015/16) representing growth of 3%. This performance reflects the investment in infrastructure, growing demand for own brand products, convenience for customers shopping online and continued investment in new stores. The company finished the year in a healthy position with no debt and an operating profit of £18 million, slightly down from £23.6 million in 2015/16.


“Despite a tough trading


environment, we continue to believe in the quality and value of our offer,” said family director Lisa Wilkinson. “From the evidence of our


growing sales income it looks like our customers agree with us. We will continue to invest to secure our business for many years to come.”


The uncertain economic and geo-political events affected the operating profit for Wilko including the fall in sterling, introduction of the national living wage, higher cost of goods and significant investment in the business. Total capital investment


increased from £24 million in 2015/16 to £41m in 2016/17 demonstrating the shareholders’ and directors’ commitment to invest in the business and provide the platform for growth. This investment programme covered 19 new stores (compared to eight in 2015/16). The company continued to focus on investing in its IT infrastructure and more recently appointed Wincanton plc to manage all its transport operations to further improve operational efficiency. There has been a greater focus on digital with the appointment of Sean Emmett as multi-channel director helping to deliver changes which are resonating


with customers. In the past year the company reported significant digital growth with a 15% increase in visitors resulting in a 25% increase in orders. The number of customers accessing its online transactional site by mobile has grown by 50%, with the channel growing revenue by over 40%.Total own brand sales have grown to more than 50%


B&M targets convenience sector with acquisition


B&M has announced a takeover of Heron Foods, a discount convenience retailer operating predominantly in the North of England. The deal by B&M’s subsidiary EV Retail Limited for £152 million included the debt assumed of the Heron group. An initial cash consideration of £112.1m was paid by B&M on exchange and completion of the acquisition. Up to £12.8m of deferred cash consideration may become


Tesco scraps 5p carrier bags


Tesco has announced that, from August 28 it will no longer make single-use carrier bags available to customers, replacing them with a new 10p ‘Bag for Life’ made from 94% recycled plastic.


The announcement follows a successful 10-week trial in Aberdeen, Dundee and Norwich where Tesco found that customers bought significantly fewer bags.


Sales of bags in trial stores have since reduced by 25% and customers found that the Bag for Life, which is replaceable for free if damaged, helped them move to re-useable bags. The supermarket chain added that sales of the 10p bag


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will fund community projects across Britain. Tesco has given out 1.5 billion fewer single-use bags since the introduction of the carrier bag charge in England in 2015 but still sells over 700 million of these each year. The grocer believes that by removing single-use carrier bags it will significantly reduce the number of bags sold and will therefore help reduce litter and the number of bags sent to landfill. Tesco UK & Republic of Ireland CEO Matt Davies said: “The number of bags being bought by our customers has already reduced dramatically. Today’s move will help our customers use even fewer bags but ensure


payable based on the EBITDA performance of the Heron group up to March 31, 2019; this is included in the £152m enterprise value figure. Heron, which reported


revenues of £274.4 million and pre-tax profit of £8.6 million for 2016, offers 1,200 SKUs. It operates 251 stores with an average 2,500sq ft of retail space compared to B&M’s UK average of around 19,000sq ft. The acquisition will give B&M access


to the convenience market, with the location of Heron’s store network a bonus as B&M believes there is a crossover in customer type between the two firms. The company said: “B&M’s Board believes that Heron’s expertise and store portfolio, when supported by B&M’s proven sourcing, retailing and store roll-out capabilities, can bring an attractive new customer value proposition in an expanding sector.”


Poundland launches first summer sale


that those sold in our stores continue to fund thousands of community projects across the country chosen by customers.” Customers ordering their shopping online will still be able to opt for single-use carrier bags or select a bagless delivery – something 57% of Tesco’s online customers


are now doing, revealed the company.


Environment Minister


Thérèse Coffey said: “Since we introduced the 5p charge in 2015, the number of single-use plastic bags taken home has plummeted by 83%. I welcome Tesco wanting to go further and help their customers use even fewer plastic bags.”


The discount retailer announced the launch of its first summer sale this month, cutting the price of thousands of product lines to just 50p. At the start of the year the company said it would continue to sell the majority of items at £1 but introduce added value with simple price points that included 50p. This is the first time the retailer has done so and Poundland said it will continue to do this at key periods during the year. The sale sees prices slashed on goods including outdoor living and gardening, until the end of August. “No-one loves a bargain more than Poundland customers and our promise to them is clear – amazing value every day,” said trading director Barry Williams. “Our first-ever summer sale is yet another example of how we provide customers with that value. We are discounting everything from outdoor living to confectionery so come rain or shine we are confident this sale event will brighten our customer’s summer.”


11 AUGUST 2017 DIY WEEK 3


in the year. Behind that growth is original product design work from Wilko’s design consultancy W’innovate which received international recognition with a Red Dot Award. Wilko Asia has gone from


strength to strength, continuing to develop and source products for the range which has increased to nearly 3,000.


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