NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
n Wilko has opened its doors at The Oaks Shopping Centre. The company said queues outside the new store started forming at 7.45am with more than 148 shoppers keen to get a first look at the new wilko store. A ceremonial ribbon cutting was led by wilko head of south division Harj Josson, wilko family charity ambassador Nick Wilkinson, wilko Acton branch manager, Daljit Dhariwal and Joe Swan, a representative of the Alzheimer’s Society. n The number of new homes registered to be built within the London region has reached more than 5,500 - a 58% increase compared to 3,549 last year - according to recent reports from The National Housebuilding Council. The show will also see the return of Sian Astley, lady-builder and project manager for BBC2’s ‘Your Home Made Perfect’ alongside Jo Dyson, property renovator, interiors specialist and founding partner of home design consultancy Mae House Design. n Squire’s Garden Centre in Milford has announced it has opened a brand new environmentally friendly children’s play area. Utilising FSC wood, it contains a seesaw, slide, multiplay unit, plus nature boards to help children identify birds and trees. Squire’s in Milford is open as usual throughout the development, and the whole project will be completed by spring 2020. n According to the report from DEFRA, Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose sold 490 million fewer single-use plastic bags in 2018/19 (549 million) – a drop of almost half on the previous year. The average person in England now buys just 10 bags a year from the main supermarket retailers, compared with 140 bags in 2014 before the charge was introduced. n DIY retailer, GJ’s, hosted a follow-up Trade Day at its Alfreton store. GJ’s said it contacted all the companies who supported the recent store expansion and brands were invited to work with the retailer to create an exciting event for its customers.
4 DIY WEEK 09 AUGUST 2019
Wickes to officially de-merge from Travis Perkins
At the capital markets event in December 2018, the Group announced the intention to strengthen the performance of Wickes and to capitalise on its clear
competitive
advantages in the DIY, small trade and Kitchen and Bathroom markets. At the same time the Board committed to review
the
options for maximising the value of Wickes in the medium term.
Since the capital markets update, the group has said good progress has been made in strengthening Wickes’s trading performance, and steps have been taken to provide Wickes with greater autonomy from the
Travis Perkins group through the separation of its systems and processes. After reviewing the options, the Board has determined to demerge Wickes to shareholders as a standalone business.
The demerger of Wickes is a key component of the overall Travis Perkins strategy to focus on trade customers and to simplify the Group which the Board believes will underpin the creation of enhanced value for shareholders. It
complete in H1 2020. The Board
has
is expected to said
that
Wickes, under a management team led by David Wood, is well positioned to thrive as a stand- alone business. Wickes will
have the autonomy to execute on its strategy and allocate capital to
its customer
proposition and growth opportunities with a clearer focus. Last year, Wickes announced it will axe 100 head office jobs from its base in Watford as a cost-saving
strategy amongst
difficult trading conditions. The retailer said: “In order to continue to drive growth for our business, we have been re-shaping our support centre to allow us to be leaner and more agile, and focus on key areas of growth in our multi-channel/ digital businesses.”
New customers help boost Pets at Home revenue in Q1
Pets at Home posted a strong start to the year, with retail revenue up 8.7% to £266.4million and omni- channel growing at a pace, as the business introduces more customers to its pet care offer, and takes “a greater share of their overall spend”. The group reported
a
positive performance across the business, with group revenue up 9.9% to £303.4million for the 16 weeks ended July 19 and now predicts underlying profit for the year will be “slightly above current market expectations”. Retail delivered strong results, with like-for-like revenue
growth of 8.2% for the period, where the pet care specialist said investment in convenient, competitive and innovative shopping has brought
success
across categories, in particular with acquiring new customers and their pet food shop. Pets at Home’s omni- channel business on the retail side “continues to grow at pace”, delivering year-on-year revenue growth of 36% to £26million. Group CEO Peter Pritchard said of the figures: “The momentum with which we exited
Stax acquires MP Smith & Co
Wholesale business Stax Trade Centres has announced the completion of a deal to buy hardware and ironmongery importer and distributor MP Smith and Co Ltd, which has been a supplier to Stax for more than three decades. The purchase is a strategic move by Stax to strengthen its supply
chain, however, both
companies will continue to operate as separate businesses. Stax purchasing director Simon Wright explained: “Although this is great news for both Stax and
L-R: Stax joint MD David Hibbert, MP Smith’s Mike and Gloria Popek Smith, Stax chairman and joint MD Eddie Brady
MP Smith, it will be very much business as usual for everyone involved.”
MP Smith was established in the mid-70s is known in the UK ironmongery sector for its brand name SECURIT. The business specialises in supplying hardware and DIY wholesalers
and pre-packers throughout the UK and Europe, operating from a 50,000sq ft distribution centre in Brighouse, West Yorkshire. Company founder, Mike Smith, was very keen that any sale would ensure that the company name and reputation would continue after his retirement.
FY19 has continued into the first quarter of FY20. We have seen a strong sales performance across the business, particularly in retail where like-for-like sales were 8.2% - an impressive 14% on a two-year basis.”
Travis Perkins has said
Toolstation continues to demonstrate excellent growth and, in line with the strategic pillar to focus on advantaged trade businesses, it remains a priority for the deployment of capital. The Group is accelerating the expansion of the branch network to improve convenience, and is further extending the product range including the addition of more trade-focused brands.
Consumer spend left languishing despite
summer sun
July records lowest retail sales growth on record, as consumers “remain disengaged” in the face of Brexit uncertainty and slow wage growth, with both physical and online non-food stores struggling. Sales increased by just 0.3%
in July, against an increase of 1.6% for the same month last year, and the slow growth in July follows the worst June since the BRC’s records began in 1995. Whilst non-food retail sales in the UK were in growth year on year last month, over the three-months to July, figures dipped by 2% on a like-for-like basis and 2.1% on a total basis. This is below the 12-month total average decrease of 0.6%. Both physical stores and
online retailers struggled during the period, with in-store sales of non-food items down 4.1% on a total basis and 4% on a like-for- like basis over the three months to July; a figure that is worse than the 12-month total average decline of 2.6%. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE said: “While retailers will welcome the return to growth, it has nonetheless been a punishing few months for the industry. The combination of slow real wage growth and Brexit
uncertainty has left
consumer spending languishing with the 12-month average total sales falling just 0.5%.”
to a new low of
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