NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
n The latest data has come from the ‘Regional Construction Hotspots in Great Britain 2018’ report from industry analysts Barbour ABI and the Construction Products Association, which highlights the levels of construction contract values awarded in 2017 across all regions of Great Britain. London’s homebuilders have been outpaced by the rest of Great Britain, as investment in housebuilding dropped to its lowest value in six years. n Two new forums have been launched to help homeware, garden and DIY manufacturers tackle the challenges presented by ongoing retail industry woes and a looming Brexit. Supply chain and logistics consultancy SCALA says it believes that the key to thriving in the rapidly-changing market is collaboration. As such, it has launched two new forums as part of its Supply Chain Best Practice programme to encourage businesses in the homeware, and garden and DIY sectors to share best practice and enhance their understanding of customer requirements, industry developments, trends and new regulations. n A national online flooring retailer headquartered in Leicestershire has increased its staff numbers past 100 for the first time and is to create 60 new jobs, Insider Media has reported. UK Flooring Direct, which moved to the Hinckley Commercial Park less than a year ago, is still on the hunt for more people in a range of sales, IT, marketing and warehouse roles. The company has said it is looking to take on another 60 staff in the next couple of years. n The sustained good weather this summer helped create a buoyant mood at this year’s show, whilst retailers and suppliers waxed lyrical about the uplift they have seen in sales thanks to consumers’ ongoing love of houseplants. Buyers and exhibitors were extremely positive about the industry’s future at this year’s Glee and were also full of praise for the new- look show.
4 DIY WEEK 28 SEPTEMBER 2018
Wyevale Garden Centres sells four more garden
Wyevale Garden Centres has announced it has sold its garden centres in Croydon Purley Way, Sidmouth, Solihull and Windsor.
Sidmouth and Solihull have been sold to operators who are expected to continue to run them as garden centres. Windsor will continue to operate as a Wyevale Garden Centre whilst its new owner progresses longer term redevelopment opportunities. Croydon Purley Way has been sold to a party related to the existing landlord, and is expected to continue to operate as a garden centre for up to two months. Chief executive of WGC, Roger
Mclaughlan said: “Across all four centres we would like to thank our great colleagues, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years. In the case of Windsor, we will continue to operate as a Wyevale Garden Centre with no immediate impact. “For those centres being sold to garden centre operators we would like to wish our colleagues well under the new ownership, and in the case of Croydon Purley Way, which has been sold for alternative use, we are very pleased to honour our commitments to our colleagues and partners and will seek to redeploy our excellent colleagues
to our other garden centres wherever possible”. Chief
financial
officer of WGC, Anthony Jones said: “The centres sold to date had been highlighted as ‘non-core’ as part of our ongoing portfolio review, which pre-dated the sale process. The sale of these centres reflects our continued pursuit of positive outcomes for our colleagues, concession partners, and customers.”
suppliers
The company has said it has received a significant number
“Challenging” home market wipe out profits at John Lewis
own-brand affordable home range, House, performed well during the trading period, with particularly strong sales since its relaunch in July. Overall, the business said it has grown sales, customer numbers and market share, adding that it had “substantially increased” its overall customer experience ratings, as measured by its Net Promoter Score.
Department store chain’s
profits take a tumble, as home ranges struggle during the first half and margins are eaten away by the most promotional activity the business has seen in a decade. Gross sales were flat in the first half, up just 0.8% to £2,093.4million, with the retailer citing a “challenging” home
market as well as an increase in promotions and the cost of new stores and IT improvements as having had an impact on figures. Like-for-like sales across the department store business were down 1.2%, whilst profits were wiped out, plummeting from £33.3million last year to -£33.5million in H1 2018/19. The business says its
Tesco launches discount chain Jack’s with 10-15 stores to open by 2019
Tesco has today launched a new brand and stores named Jack’s. Part of the Tesco Family, the company has said Jack’s offers “great tasting food that is grown, reared or made in Britain at the lowest possible prices to bring customers outstanding value”. The launch of Jack’s is part of
Tesco’s centenary celebrations which will see the business mark 100 years of delivering great value to British shoppers. Jack’s will proudly support
Britain’s food producing communities. 8 out of 10 food and drink products at Jack’s
will be grown, reared or made in Britain and stores will stock a unique own brand range, also named Jack’s as a mark of quality and value. Jack’s will operate a low-cost business model that is designed to keep costs low and prices down. It’s a no fuss approach with
a simplified range of
products, no fancy fixtures or fittings, and no added extras, just good quality at low prices. Over the next six months Tesco will launch 10-15 Jack’s stores in the UK. The first two stores will open on 20th September in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
Whilst confident in its strategy going forward, parent firm John Lewis Partnership remains aware of the challenges facing the retail market. It said “With the level of uncertainty facing consumers and the economy, in part due to ongoing Brexit negotiations, forecasting is particularly difficult but we continue to expect full year profits to be substantially lower than last year for the Partnership as a whole.”
of offers for all or part of the remaining WGC business from national, regional and financial operators
as well as local
entrepreneurs. The company sold four garden centres earlier this month to individual buyers, and a further five a week previous, taking the total to 13 current centres that have been sold.
Stax announces partnership with Rawlplug
Stax Trade Centres has announced details of another new strategic partnership which will provide its customers with access to an increased range of fixings, fastenings, anchors, sealants and adhesives from Rawlplug. The partnership will see almost 1,000 new lines of Rawlplug-branded products added to those which are already available through the six Stax outlets in the UK. “Stax is committed to
great example of that strategy in action,” explained Stax purchasing director, Simon Wright. Commenting
a on
Dave Lewis unveils new Jack’s discount chain
and Immingham, Lincolnshire, on sites which make use of excess Tesco space. The stores to follow will include a mix of entirely new sites, sites adjacent to existing Tesco stores, and a small number of converted Tesco stores.
the new
partnership, Rawlplug UK sales director Jonathan Metcalfe, said: “Our goal is to help and support our wholesale partner Stax, and in turn, to further enhance and improve the delivery and availability to consumers of the whole Rawlplug offer.”
largest
Stax is one of the UK’s non-food wholesaler,
and provides genuine trade-only wholesale support for a wide range of independent retailers across the country.
www.diyweek.net
working with leading trade and consumer brands and offering their products to customers at really competitive wholesale prices, and this development is
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