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NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF


n The Qatar-based Al Mana Group, which bought BHS in 2016, will close down UK-based BHS.com following “a strategic review” of the business, with plans to focus resources on its international store- based business. The UK-based online retailer will close its website on Wednesday, June 27, with final deliveries to customers by Wednesday, July 5. Al Mana Group said in a statement that it remains fully committed to expanding and investing in its franchise stores business, BHS International – adding that it is in late-stage negotiations with several new partners. n New research revealed that 72% of UK consumers want the government to do more to back the growth of smaller, independent retailers. According to a YouGov poll of GB consumers, 42% said they would consider shopping with an independent retailer because they prefer to support smaller operations over a larger retailer. More than one in 5 shoppers also said they like to compare price and product offerings between larger retail brands and independents, before making the final purchase from the smaller retailer. n New figures reveal retailers have seen an average increase of 4% in shoplifting incidents in the past year, with 378,725 offences reported in 2017-18 in the UK during the financial year of April 2017-March 2018. In total, 67% of regional police forces across the UK saw an increase in shoplifting offences during the year, ranging from just a 1% rise, to 21%. n Stax Trade Centres has introduced a new mobile showroom that is visiting customers’ premises to showcase its workwear range. The showroom, which is mounted on a road trailer, is a first for Stax, which supplies workwear services to a wide range of businesses, ranging from small independent traders through to local councils, and major commercial organisations. Its trade centre in Glasgow also houses the company’s own dedicated workwear showroom and production facility.


4 DIY WEEK 15 JUNE 2018


Poundworld calls in administrators putting more than 5,000 jobs on line


Discount chain Poundworld has become the latest high street name to fall into administration after attempts by owner TPG Capital to restructure the business failed. Deliotte restructuring partners Daniel Butters and Clare Boardman have been appointed as joint administrators to Poundworld Retail Ltd. The move puts a total of 5,100 jobs at risk, although Deloitte has said no stores have closed and that they will continue to trade as normal, with no redundancies at this time


Operating under the Poundworld and Bargain Buys


brand names, the company trades from 355 stores, serving more than two million customers and selling around 11 million products a week.


Announcing their appointment, the administrators


said: product cost inflation, “Like


many high street retailers, Poundworld has suffered from high


decreasing footfall, weaker consumer confidence and an increasingly competitive discount retail market.”


The news follows reports that Poundworld had been in talks with a potential buyer R Capital. Joint administrator Clare Boardman added: “The retail


trading environment in the UK remains extremely challenging and Poundworld has been seeking to address this through


UK garden centres report a ‘rollercoaster month’ in April


Sales at garden centres across the country were up and down during April, according to the Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) Barometer of Trade (BoT) report.


Outdoor plant sales remained down at -12.73% compared with the same month last year but could have been much worse if the bad weather had continued, says the GCA. GCA chief executive Iain Wylie said: “The first two and a half weeks saw continued negative sales until the weather turned as we headed towards May. This means that overall sales were down for the month, however we expect to see them pick up in May after a record breaking start during the Bank holiday weekend. “We believe that had the bad


weather continued for the rest of the month, the negative sales


Sales in garden sundries


were down -11.16%, furniture and barbecue sales were down -11.12% and pets and aquatics were down -6.37%. Gift sales were down -4.5%,


could have been much worse. Sales in some non-traditional categories brought some reassurance, as our April results revealed sales in catering were up 1.33% and clothing up 15.92%.” Gardeners started to prepare for the season, as seed and bulb sales were also up at 5.75% and houseplant sales were up 7.13%.


hard landscaping was down -20.6% and food hall and farm shop sales were down -10.23%. Overall, April sales were down -8.36%, with a year-to-date change of -10.86%. Blackbrooks Garden Centre managing director Mark Winchester said of the business, which is based in East Sussex: “April was very much a month of two halves as far as sales are concerned, suffering massive dips of up to -36% in earlier weeks but then strong gains of +30% for later weeks.


“Overall our April sales were


flat compared to 2017, which we were happy with considering the poor start to the month.”


Ultra Furniture Ltd falls into administration, as business is hit by planned Tesco Direct closure


A leading UK upholstery


manufacturer, Ultra Furniture Ltd, appointed administrators this month, resulting in 160 job losses, following news that its biggest customer, Tesco Direct is set to close this summer. Steven Muncaster of Duff & Phelps, was appointed administrator to Dudley-based Ultra Furniture Limited on June 6. Mr Muncaster explained that


the business, which has been working with some of the UK’s best known upholstery retailers and high-street brands at the same site for over 30 years, “has


been directly impacted by the announcement that Tesco Direct is being closed in July.” Tesco Direct accounts


for more than 70% of Ultra Furniture’s sales. The company’s dedicated


production site in Kingswinford, Dudley in the West Midlands employs 160 people. Despite having continued to invest


in


and develop its facilities, design capabilities and quality systems, the company couldn’t survive the loss of such a lucrative contract. Mr Muncaster added: “The directors of the business are


clear that at this stage that the business as it currently stands cannot continue to trade following the loss of such a major customer. “While we are continuing to market the business with the aim of finding a buyer, we have to stress that this is a hugely challenging market undergoing consolidation and cost pressures. We cannot confirm at this stage what will happen to the two sites and the current employees but we will be keeping people informed at every stage of the process.”


Exchange for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List, and they started trading on June 8. Carpetright


announced its


intentions to raise the emergency funding earlier this month, as part of a restructuring plan, along with the closure of 92 stores. Carpetright CEO Wilf Walsh said: “Successful completion of the fundraising is a major milestone in our recovery plan and we would like to thank our existing shareholders and new investors for their strong support. The £60million net proceeds give us the resources we need to accelerate our turnaround by creating a right-sized portfolio of stores on sustainable rents, modernising our store estate and upgrading our digital platform.”


www.diyweek.net


a restructure of its business. Unfortunately, this has not been possible.” However, Deloitte believes it could yet find a buyer for the business “or at least part of it,” adding that administrators would keep staff “appraised of developments as they happen”. Despite being named in the Sunday Times ‘Top Track 250’ in both 2014 and 2016, as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies, Poundworld has been losing money for the past two years. Losses for the financial


year 2016-17 were


£17.1million, up from £5.4million the year before.


Carpetright gets go-ahead for recovery plan Carpetright


has


secured


shareholder approval for emergency funding raised through a conditional placing. The placing and open offer, which took place on June 5, raised around £60million. Following a general meeting with shareholders the next day, Carpetright announced it had the backing of the requisite majority in order to issue 232,463,221 new ordinary shares under the planning and open offer. Applications were made to the FCA and the London Stock


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