NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
n A very successful draw held at Home Hardware Southwest’s Spring Trade Show on Tuesday, September 18 at Silverstone raised £400 to be split equally between Guide Dogs for the Blind and The Rainy Day Trust. Home Hardware Southwest would like to thank all members, suppliers and staff who generously contributed towards these charities. n Squire’s Garden Centres has been shortlisted for ‘Best Garden Centre’ by the Express in their inaugural Home & Living Awards, which celebrate the UK’s best household products, services and retailers. n Dobbies CEO and former Wyevale boss, Nicholas Marshall has joined the line-up of speakers for this year’s HTA Garden Futures Conference. Conference host Cathy Newman will quiz him on his views on topics including the future of the industry, the potential impact of Brexit, and the consumer and the impact of technology within retail. n Following the Government’s proposed legislative changes on the selling and marketing of knives, The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) has approached home secretary Amber Rudd for a meeting to discuss the possible implications for housewares suppliers and retailers. BHETA is now working with BIRA and LACORS, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, on this issue. n The inventor behind the world’s first mouldable glue, Sugru, has launched a ‘family-safe, skin- friendly formula’ expected to double the brand’s presence in retail by the end of 2018. This will be available alongside Original Sugru mouldable glue; the major difference being that children as young as eight years old can use it without the need for adult supervision. n At Home Hardware’s Autumn Trade Show, DMD was voted the ‘Best Display Stand’, earning Rachel Procter and Rob Blackburn a cash prize of £100 and a glass trophy. Minky (Robert Winstanley) received the runners up prize of £50.
2 DIY WEEK 29 SEPTEMBER 2017
Kingfisher half year profits exceed expectations
Half-year and
Screwfix
profits at B&Q parent,
Kingfisher have fallen 5.9% to £402million amid what the company describes as “business disruption” on the second year of its five-year transformation. Kingfisher
made an
underlying pretax profit of £440million in the six months to July 31 – ahead of analysts’ average forecast of £426 million and £436million made in the same period last year. Sales across the company
were down by 1.3%. UK retail profit pushed marginally higher, up 1.7% to £215million for the half year.
Chief executive Veronique Laury said: “Looking across our markets, we have seen solid growth at Screwfix and Poland, offset sales
by in France
“We are aware of and are acting on the causes of this disruption, which we are confident will ease.”
One aspect of this disruption was the number of departures in staff, most notably the B&Q CEO Michael Loeve stepped down from his position earlier this year, retail director for B&Q Damian McGloughlin resigned from his
role and moved to
Bunnings as its chief operating officer (COO), and John-Paul Constant stepped down from his position as chief sales and retail operations officer after less than a year in the role.
continued weaker and
business disruption, principally reflecting product availability and clearance.”
Speaking about this matter, Ms Laury said: “We have two new bosses in the UK market; I think the process has been very good and we have appointed internal people.” Sales
in some France dropped
4.1% to £2.3 billion, with like- for-like sales also down by 4.6%, as it struggled with a slow performance compared to
the wider market. French online DIY marketplace ManoMano recently raised over £54million to expand across Europe, and Kingfisher has said it is taking this
competition “seriously”. Ms Laury said: [this is] coming from the digital competition – [ManoMano] having been able to raise money is a confirmation of that. I think that’s why we’re investing so much in digital.”
Tool Shop opens new store
Tool Shop has opened the doors to the first of two new additions to its store portfolio, having completely refurbished the shop on Upper Road, Islington and opened for trading in under six weeks. The new outlet is Tool Shop’s second on the busy North London road will act as a bolt-on store to its existing shop, selling more housewares, as well as a Dulux Trade paint offer and full locksmith services. Owner, Vin Vara, who is also
BIRA president said he saw a gap in trade sales and locksmith
services in the area, which lead him to look for a new site. The second new store, which is located on Camden High Street is set to open in November. The former bookshop – a 1,000sq ft location that Mr Vara has been after for a number of years – will also undergo a full refit to bring it in line with the rest of the Tool Shop chain. When open, it will provide a full hardware offer and locksmith service. Mr Vara also revealed plans to have 15 stores trading by Easter and will launch Tool Shop’s new web site in November.
Gender pay gap: Female managers in retail earn £4.3K less than male colleagues
According to new research from
The Chartered
Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, it has been revealed that the gender pay gap for managers in the retail sector is 19.4%, an average of £4,315 per year. A percentage considerably lower than the average gender pay gap across all UK industries – currently 26.8%. Under
the Government’s
reporting regulations that came into effect in April 2017, large employers (250+ employees) must now publicly disclose the size of their gender pay gap. As
of today, just 80 out of 7,850 eligible employers have fulfilled their obligations. According to research published last year by management consultants McKinsey, closing the gender pay gap would add up to £150 billion a year to the UK economy by 2025. But analysis by CMI shows the scale of the challenge: with the economy needing 1.9 million new managers by 2024, 1.5 million would have to be women in order to achieve balance. CMI’s chief executive Ann Francke said: “Too many businesses are like ‘glass
pyramids’ with women holding the majority of lower-paid junior roles and far fewer reaching the top. We now see those extra perks of senior management roles are creating a gender pay gap wider than previously understood. The picture is worst at the top, with male CEOs cashing-in bonuses six times larger than female counterparts.” This is the first time that pay gap data, compiled by XpertHR, has been published taking into account the new rules. This is based on analysis of salary data of 118,385 managers from 423 organisations over the past year.
BIRA opens new offices
The British Independent
Retailers Association (BIRA) officially opened its new offices in Edgbaston in Birmingham on September 21. The event was attended by 150 members, staff and friends of the association. “It was a great honour to be able to officially open the new BIRA headquarters,” said national president Vin Vara. “It was encouraging to see so many members, suppliers and industry partners join us on the day to show their support and a fantastic evening was had by all, despite the rain. With all the staff now in one location and modern fresh offices, we look forward to seeing BIRA continue to grow.” The refurbishment of 225 Bristol Road and the purchase and subsequent refurbishment of 225a Bristol Road has bought BIRA’s
offices into the 21st
century, with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment in the new board rooms and break out areas for creative thinking and idea development.
www.diyweek.net
However in terms of Kingfisher’s own expansion, it was announced in the half year results that there would be limited expansion across the UK and Ireland, except for Screwfix which continues to drive sales and push profits. The firm’s five-year transformation plan hopes to deliver a £500 million profit boost by the end of 2020/21.
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