NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
Tiptree garden centre, Perrywood presented cheques totalling a value of over £14,000 to its chosen charities: Mid and North Essex Mind, Marie Curie and Greenfingers. Throughout 2017, Perrywood’s staff and customers raised a total of £14,334.73 for the three charities through a range of activities, including a tea party, quiz nights and get fit challenges. Perrywood has also contributed an additional £10,000 to charities and the local community. What More UK appeared on BBC Breakfast last week, as presenter Steph McGovern showcased the company that now exports to 71 countries worldwide. Speaking on the programme, director Tony Grimshaw said: “Business is growing and things are going in the right direction. We have invested £8m over the past 18 months and have earmarked another £3m for new machinery.” The firm now boasts customers in South and North America, Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Squire’s has announced the winners of its annual garden centre awards, with its branch in Long Ditton winning the double – best Garden Centre and best Café Bar of the year. Despite tough competition amongst the independent chain’s 15 garden centres, Long Ditton also won top awards for its Christmas department and pets & aquatics department. Home improvement and garden wholesaler, Decco is hailing its first supplier conference in six years a success based on “really positive” feedback from the industry. The event, which followed the theme ‘Explore, Engage, Evolve’, was chaired by Decco supplier relations manager, Chris Gladwin and included a keynote speech from CEO Charlie Lacey. Radio and TV comedian Jo Caulfield will compere the GCA’s conference awards’ dinner. Ms Caulfield, who is also a comedy writer, has worked on some of the biggest shows and with some of the top names in British comedy. GCA chief executive Iain Wylie said: “We’re delighted Jo has agreed to compere our awards evening on January 23 and are very much looking forward to meeting her.”
4 DIY WEEK 19 JANUARY 2018
Dunelm reports strong LFLs in second quarter
Homewares retailer saw like- for-like (LFL) sales rise by 3.4% to £255million in the 13 weeks ended December 30, with online LFL figures soaring 30.5% but profits are expected to take a dip in first half. Dunelm opened five new
stores during the quarter and recorded that total revenue grew by 13.6% to £297.5million. It delivered a strong online performance, delivering £26.2million in Q2 – up more than £6million on the same trading period last year. This climb has been attributed to the group’s acquisition of online homewares specialist Worldstores in November 2016.
Chairman Andy Harrison said: “Continuing rapid like-for- like online growth, of 36.8% in the first half, coupled with passing the first anniversary of the Worldstores acquisition, has helped our online sales grow to 16.0% of total sales in the first half (18.5% including Reserve and Collect). We are well on the way to becoming a genuine multi-channel retailer.” However, gross margins took a hit, with a decline of 180 basis points for the first half, which is expected to have an impact on profits for the period. The company put this down to the addition of lower-margin sales from Worldstores, as well as a
higher level of seasonal and end- of-season products in the wider range. Dunelm is expecting some margin improvement in the second half, as core margins were said to be in line with the previous year.
Dunelm opened a total of nine new stores in the first half, including five in Q2, which takes Dunelm’s portfolio to 169 stores. No further stores are currently expected to open in this financial year.
Covers Garden centres can keep momentum acquires OTBS
of houseplants going in January
The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) is encouraging garden retail businesses to keep the gardening season going in winter by showcasing colourful winter-flowering houseplants to entice customers to brighten up their indoor space and increase the feel-good factor.
The mental and physical health benefits of houseplants have been widely publicised, whilst the aesthetic is still very much on trend.
Flowering houseplants for
warm-room temperatures of around 20°C (68°F) include Poinsettia, Gardenia and Orchids, such as Dendrobium and Phalaenopsis. Orchids such as Cymbidium will also tolerate cooler positions out of full sun in a north- or east-facing room. It lists the top six winter flowering houseplants as: Phalaenopsis, Azalea, Cyclamen, Cymbidium, Poinsettia and Hippeastrum.
“Hippeastrum bulbs are popular gifts at Christmas and… can bloom year after
Christmas period has shown a change in shopper behaviour
A report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has analysed the five weeks beginning November 26 – December 30, and this shows year-on-year, December Footfall decreased sharply by 3.5%, the biggest decline since March 2013 when it dropped by 5.2%. The December monthly year-on-year figure was significantly below the three-month rolling average of -1.9% and the twelve-month rolling average of -0.7%. All regions showed a drop in Footfall for December, the sharpest
reductions being experienced by Scotland (4.7%), South West (5.2%) and Greater London (3.7%). The East saw an end to its twelve-month run of positive growth, declining by 2.6%. Of the three shopping locations, only Retail Parks saw two regions showing growth: South East (0.9%) and West Midlands (0.1%). Chief executive of the BRC, Helen Dickinson OBE said: “The sharp drop in footfall this December, while sales grew overall, underlines how shopping
is being transformed by the shift to online.
“The squeeze on discretionary spending also contributed to the decline in footfall. Households had to use their money more carefully, researching products online, rather than heading out to stores to browse.
“Retail parks fared slightly better than high streets by providing Christmas shoppers with the draw and convenience of parking, easy click-and-collect, and leisure facilities.”
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year, adding colour and life to a room,” said the HTA. Indoor trees are also proving popular with consumers. They are “big, calming, air-purifying, and thanks to the large amount of foliage, they can provide a woodland feel indoors even when everything outdoors is still cold and bare,” the association explains.
Species to bear in mind include the Dracaena marginata AGM (Madagascar dragon tree), which is known to be a powerful air purifier, and the Pachira (also known as the money tree), which is often sold as multiple plants with their stems plaited into one distinctive braided trunk, and is known for year-round fabulous green leaves.
Covers Timber & Builders Merchants has acquired Orpington Timber & Building Supplies Ltd (OTBS) in Bexleyheath, Kent, strengthening its portfolio of branches in the South East to 15 depots. Covers already operate a depot at Longfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, as well as other branches in Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. The business confirmed that OTBS officially started trading as part of Covers on Wednesday, January 3 and explained that the depot will trade as OTBS, Covers Bexleyheath.
Former owner Mike O’Kane will continue at OTBS as depot manager alongside his full team of existing employees. Covers managing director Henry
Green said of the deal: “This is an exciting acquisition for Covers and means we can continue to expand our existing business in North Kent and reach new customers in the south east of Greater London. OTBS is a very successful business and we are delighted to welcome Mike and his team to the Covers family. We look forward to working with them to support their excellent customer service and increase their product offering in due course.” In October, Covers celebrated
the official opening of its new-look Home Ideas store in Chichester.
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