NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF


 THE 20 finalists in the GCA’s Ruxley Rose competition have recently been judged and there is strong evidence of continued enthusiasm for selling plants at member centres. The two winners, judged to have the best plant areas, will be announced during the GCA’s annual conference to be held at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stratford- upon-Avon in January.  Tile Giant has appointed Premier Logistics Group to manage its store delivery operation. The three-year contract will see Premier Logistics delivering stock to Tile Giant’s UK stores on a daily basis. The retailer currently has over 100 stores across the UK with plans to expand to in excess of 250 over the next five years.  Local shoppers were out in force when Wilko opened its doors at Fort Kinnaird Shopping Centre, Edinburgh this month. Queues outside the new store started forming at 6.30am with more than 300 shoppers keen to get a first look at what the new store had to offer.  Shopping channel retailer QVC UK has again been rewarded for its customer service, winning the Multi-Channel Award at the 2017 Top 50 Companies for Customer Service Awards. In


addition, it was first overall for Social Media in Retail, second for Customer Experience on Calls for Retail and third best company overall.  Adam McGarry of Wiltshire College has been announced ‘UK Champion’ in this year’s landscaping competition after winning gold at the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) WorldSkills UK final. Daniel McGeoghegan took silver and Sam Taylor took bronze. Both Daniel and Sam are currently completing the acclaimed Industry led APL Apprentice Scheme. Tile Trader has launched a nationwide initiative called “Tiling for a Good Cause” and is urging members of the public to nominate a space in their local area in need of a tiling makeover. The initiative is designed to give one deserving facility the opportunity to receive a tiling transformation worth up to £500.


2 DIY WEEK 24 NOVEMBER 2017


Kingfisher reports drop in third quarter sales but confident in meeting full-year forecasts


Kingfisher has reported a 0.5% fall in group like-for-like sales for the three months to October 31. Although that was an improvement on a second quarter fall of 1.9% there was a small fall in underlying third quarter sales as a weak performance in France was only partially offset by strong growth at Screwfix in the UK and in Poland, but said it remains comfortable with full year profit forecasts.


The FTSE 100-listed firm


which owns B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and elsewhere, said like-for-like sales in Britain and Ireland rose by 1.5% but in France they fell by 4.1%. The Screwfix chain continued to be the star performer in the UK with like-for-like sales up 10.2%, while B&Q sales fell 1.9%. The group which is in the second year of a plan to boost its annual profit by £500mln from 2021, said it was comfortable


with the current full-year 2017-18 consensus for underlying pretax profit of £785mln, down slightly from last year’s £787mln outcome Chief executive Véronique Laury said: “Q3 has followed a similar course to the first half. We have seen strong growth at Screwfix and Poland offset by continued weak sales in France, alongside some business disruption from our ONE Kingfisher plan, principally reflecting product availability and


Christmas spending expected to plummet


Christmas spending across the UK is set to be down on 2016 levels, according to a recent report by Visa and HIS Markit. The research shows that the


decrease in spending is due to a “challenging economic environment, characterised by falling real wages, tepid economic growth and ongoing [Brexit] uncertainty.”


This assessment is in contrast with 2016 recording the strongest ever recorded volumes of festive period household spending where it increased by 2.8%.


This year the depreciation of sterling continues to feed through to rising consumer prices, leading to a further squeeze on household disposable income. Chief commercial officer at


Visa, Mark Antipof said: “While it still looks likely that consumers will be hitting stores and websites in search of bargains this Black


Friday and Cyber Monday, we expect spending for the duration of the festive season to be lower in comparison to last year. “Looking back, consumers


were in a sweet spot in 2016 – low inflation and rising wages meant there was a little extra in household budgets to spend on the festive period. 2017 has seen a reversal of fortunes – with inflation outpacing wage growth and the recent interest rate rise leaving shoppers with less money in their pockets.”


Varta Batteries has its moment in the Christmas spotlight


Varta Consumer Batteries is launching a £1 million Christmas campaign, an investment that will see the challenger brand reach a UK audience of 22 million this festive season. The campaign, led by a TV advert, represents a significant investment by the brand to support battery sales during a peak purchasing period. The multi-channel campaign includes a high profile spot during ITV’s flagship winter programme ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!’. Investment in the advert is a bold move by Varta to join the list of leading brands competing


for consumer attention this Christmas. To resonate with festive audiences, Varta has created an advert that demonstrates how its batteries have been behind some of the most memorable Christmas moments in a young boy’s life, while reminding us of our own.


The ‘Max and the Train’ advert shows how German-made Varta batteries have been making Christmas extra special across the decades.


Following the young


protagonist Max and his favourite Varta-powered toy train, we


see how Varta batteries have been the hidden heroes behind many of our favourite Christmas moments – from the 1980s to the present day. Varta trade marketing manager of UK & Ireland Natalie Carney commented:


“The significant investment we have put into this campaign reiterates our commitment to the UK market. The Christmas period is a competitive time for advertising but, as a challenger brand, we’ve not been afraid to tell our story and come up with a creative that will really resonate with consumers.”


Expenditure on household goods is expected to fall by 1%, however online sales have been predicted to rise by 3.6% compared to the same period from last year although the rate of growth is slower than 2016’s 8.9%. Visa said that of every £5 spent during the period, almost £2 will likely to be spent online. A separate survey of shoppers


by Visa revealed that 43% expect to complete the majority of their Christmas shopping by the end of the Black Friday weekend.


DFS completes acquisition of Sofology


DFS has been cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to acquire Sofology for £25m. The deal to acquire the


Warrington-based sofa specialist with a network of 37 stores was struck in August.


The CMA opened an investigation and invited comments on the transaction in October and has now confirmed that the takeover can take place. In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed its clearance of the acquisition which will now complete at the close of business on November 30, 2017.


“I’m delighted that we are able to complete this deal which is a big step for DFS towards achieving one of our strategic growth aims of broadening our product and brand appeal,” said chief executive Ian Filby. “Sofology is a fantastic business that takes great pride in the levels of service and innovation it provides to customers and is a great addition to our family. “This is an important and historic moment for both businesses; our investment demonstrates the confidence we have in Sofology and the wider Group. “I look forward to working with


Jason Tyldesley and his team to continue this success.”


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clearance. We continue to act on the causes of this disruption which we are confident will ease.” Senior market analyst at City Index, Ken Odeluga said: “Kingfisher’s French business, once among its most profitable, has been fading into burdensome decline for several years. “So a retreat of underlying sales


there of 4.1% over 12 weeks to the end of October, the same as in the first half, is negative but no shock.”


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