NEWS
Hillmount to open third garden centre
Irish garden centre business Hillmount is to open its third centre later this year, a £1m development in Co. Down which will create 25 local jobs. The Mercer family first opened a nursery in Castlereagh almost 80 years ago, and now also have a store in Bangor. The new Hillmount Garden Centre will be in the former Thriving Life Church and will feature a 55-seater restaurant called ‘The Gardeners Rest.’
Said Hillmount managing
director Alan Mercer: “Now is the perfect time for us to expand our business for the next generation and we are excited to be setting down roots in Ards, a town Edith has always considered to be her home shopping town having grown up in Greyabbey.” He added: “The building has such a beautiful perspective and we know Hillmount Ards will bloom with an amazing team helping us. We are committed to investing in the local area and to offering local jobs to local people, as well as providing the community in Ards the same great value and great choice that our loyal customers enjoy at our sister garden centres in Bangor and Castlereagh.”
Bunnings opens Hemel and reveals next three locations
Australian group Wesfarmers opened its third Bunnings Warehouse store in the UK and Ireland on Friday, June 9, converting a former Homebase site in Hemel Hempstead. The store on Apsley Mills Retail
Park occupies over 64,000sq ft and stocks more than 27,000 home improvement and garden lines, including paint-mixing services from Johnstone’s Trade, Crown and Dulux and a new tool shop offering leading brands, such as Ryobi and DeWalt. Like its sister stores, it also boasts a café, indoor children’s play area, timber cutting, colour wall and engraving and key cutting services.
Earlier in the week Bunnings also named the locations for its next three UK pilot stores.
Thanet (Broadstairs),
Sittingbourne and Basildon (Vange) have been confirmed by Bunnings as the locations of the sixth, seventh and eighth Warehouses. Bunnings has confirmed that teams in its existing stores have been made aware, adding: “We will be closed over the next few months so we can bring the Bunnings Warehouse and the very best home improvement and garden offer to these communities.” Official opening dates have yet to be confirmed by the team The new sites continues the momentum of establishing the Bunnings Warehouse
format
in the UK’s £38billion-a-year home improvement and garden market.
Part of Australia’s Wesfarmers
Group, Bunnings plans to invest up to £500 million rolling out its Warehouse stores across the UK and Ireland over the next
PPG withdraws offer for Akzo Nobel
US paint firm PPG announced this month
that it has
withdrawn its proposal to combine with Dulux parent, Akzo Nobel and will not pursue a public offer for all the issued and outstanding shares of its Dutch rival. PPG
said it made its
final decision after “careful consideration”, with PPG chairman
and CEO Michael
There are already two existing Hillmount Garden Centres in Bangor and Belfast (pictured)
McGarry adding: “We were hopeful throughout this process that Akzo Nobel’s boards would see the merits of our compelling proposal to combine our two great companies and create significant shareholder value and
a more sustainable business for the future.”
The US company confirmed it made a final attempt for engagement with Akzo, hoping the Dulux parent would consider a price increase and certain sweeteners
for the proposed
deal, including a significant break-fee.
Mr McGarry added: “However, AkzoNobel’s boards have consistently refused to engage and did not respond to our call or letter. As a result, we believe it is in the best interests of PPG and its shareholders to withdraw our proposal to AkzoNobel at this time.”
Under Dutch takeover rules, PPG had to submit an offer for Akzo Nobel by June 1 or walk away for at least six months. In response to PPG’s announcement, Akzo Nobel CEO Ton Büchner said: “We continue
to focus on our
business, pursuing our strategy of accelerating sustainable growth and profitability and creating two focused, high- performing businesses – Paints and Coatings and Specialty Chemicals. We believe this will lead to a step change in growth and long-term value creation for our shareholders and all other stakeholders.”
Poundland announces multi-price point range
The discount retailer has announced a new strategy to expand its product offering and also start stocking items above the £1 price tag by introducing a multi-price point range across its UK stores. Steinhoff International, which
acquired Poundland last year, said it “remained excited” about the general merchandise retail business, adding that it was “trading ahead of expectations”. Reporting its results for the half year ended March 31, 2017, Steinhoff, which also operates Bensons for Beds and Harveys Furniture, said Poundland had experienced positive like-for-like sales in the first quarter, which continued into Q2 (the first positive like-for-like growth since December 2014). The parent
firm added that
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UK operations have now gained significant scale and good progress has been made with results exceeding that of the Poundland acquisition plan. Plans to move away from a single-price point in Poundland were revealed as one of the areas of focus in the retail group’s strategy going forward. Other areas
include the expansion
of product ranges to include clothing; optimisation of the store network; and collaboration with the greater Steinhoff group on supply chain initiatives. The closure of 57 loss-making
stores in the Poundland portfolio during the period “should have a positive impact on profitability going forward”. Steinhoff’s UK results for the half took a knock due to deflation, with a 19% decline in revenue to
€325 million, largely due to a 14% devaluation of the pound. Revenue in constant currency declined by 6%, which the retail group said was impacted by “a challenging post-Brexit trading environment and store closures”.
However, like-for-like sales were down by only 2%. Margin increased by 60 bps, driven by a resilient bedding market and the group’s long-term strategy of “optimising and reducing the size of the store estate”.
three to five years. According to a recent
investor briefing,
the plan is that there will be 10 Warehouses trading by the end of this year.
DIY on the rise at Spring Fair
The DIY and Homewares sector at the 2018 Spring Fair aims to be bigger and better than its debut outing earlier this year.
Spring Fair’s organisers have confirmed that next year’s DIY and Homewares sector will be expanded to cater for increased demand from the industry’s leading businesses. With the success of 2017’s outing still resounding, organisers say that next year’s show will “provide retailers with a platform to source the latest home improvement merchandise, from power tools and fastenings to paint.” Several big
already signed up for next year’s show, including BIRA,
names have Stax,
Mica, Home Hardware, Hamble Distribution Ltd, DK Tools, Akzo Nobel, Wilsons, Centurion, PlastiKote, Nexus and National Abrasives. Newcomers include Rolson Tools and V-Tac Exports. Spring Fair’s portfolio director Nick Davison added: “We were delighted with the industry’s response to us launching the DIY & Home Improvement sector at Spring Fair…The enquiries we’ve had over the last three months have forced us to expand the sector to fit new exhibitors in alongside those who have rebooked. With the economy remaining uncertain many people will continue to invest
in DIY so this area of
the show is hugely important to retailers looking to capitalise on that trend.” Next year’s Spring Fair takes place at the NEC February 4-8.
16 JUNE 2017 DIY WEEK 3
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