NEWS
AkzoNobel announces its Colour of the Year 2024
If any colour could give a home a hug, it’s Sweet Embrace, AkzoNobel’s Colour of the Year 2024. The pastel pink shade, inspired by soft feathers and evening clouds, is perfect for creating the calm and welcoming spaces so many of us crave. This welcoming colour reflects extensive research into global social, design and consumer trends for 2024 which found that, in an uncertain world, we’re on a quest to belong. We need places
that make us feel calm, and we also seek moments of joy in everyday experiences. Identified by in-house paints and coatings colour experts and international design professionals, these three trends will influence how we live in the coming year. “With society in a state of flux, we’re reassessing how we cope with the world,” says Heleen van Gent, Creative Director of AkzoNobel’s Global Aesthetic Center. “Starting at home, we’re looking to create
our own ‘special somewhere’ that grounds us in our individual memories and relationships. Our Colour of the Year, Sweet Embrace, and its three complementary color palettes can help us achieve that. They enable us to personalise our environments to fit the times we live in, as well as bringing a sense of stability and moments of joy to our spaces.”
As part of the 2024 ColourFutures colour trend report, three decorative paint
Wickes releases interim trading results
The current Wickes Group strategy continues to deliver, with positive first half LFL sales and full year expectations maintained. Financial highlights include revenue growth of 0.7% to £827.7m and £34.8m adjusted profit before tax.
Operational and strategic highlights include continued strong growth in its TradePro
loyalty scheme, with 65,000 new customers signing up in the first half of 2023, and a period end base of 811,000. The launch of Wickes Lifestyle Kitchens, with a free design service, to capture a larger share of the mass market and improved click & collect capacity and service levels are driving a meaningful channel shift back to stores, reducing distribution costs.
Trading in July and August has been in line with expectations, and the company continues to expect full year adjusted profit
colour stories have been designed around Sweet Embrace to help consumers choose on-trend and harmonious wall colors that reflect their unique
before tax in line with market consensus (£45-48m after the impact of SaaS IT investment costs).
David Wood, Chief Executive, commented: “This was another positive period for the business, underpinned by the strength of our balanced business model and outstanding customer service delivered by our colleagues. We achieved a sales uplift and strong conversion rates in DIFM, while delivering another strong performance in Local Trade due to our market leading value on
Sales of insulation surge as industry reacts to Building Regulations
National builders’ merchant Jewson has recorded an uplift in sales of its sustainable product ranges following the new Building Regulations, which apply to all construction projects in England.
Seen by many as the stepping stone to the Future Homes Standard in 2025, the grace period for the new Building Regulations ended in June this year, with Part F, Part L, Part O and Part S updates all relating to sustainability.
In the first half of 2023, Jewson
has reported a rise in sales of enhanced insulation, sustainable cladding and wastewater heat recovery systems. Sales in air
source heat pumps have also risen, which are favoured in the Part L regulations, compared with traditional methods of heating. Sales data from Jewson’s ‘Making Better Homes’ range, which focuses on more sustainable building solutions, were 66% higher in the six months to June 2023, compared with the same period of 2022.
The increase was mainly driven by a rise in sales of innovative insulation, which saw a huge 367% rise. Even when accounting for inflation, this demonstrates a significant uplift in demand. Wastewater heat recovery systems also surged in popularity, with sales 276% higher in the first half of 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. Sustainable timber cladding sales rose by 18%, while sales of carbon reduction products, such as recycled cavity liners increased by 17%.
Matthew Handley, Category Innovation Manager at Jewson, says: “We know the period leading up to the new Building
Howe Tools launches national ad campaign
Family-run power tool business, Howe Tools, has unveiled a cheeky new advertising campaign, pitting the company against the established ‘big boys’ of the trade. Harnessing a mix of online, radio and billboard advertising, the campaign builds on the business’ tagline, ‘Reliability? We swear by it’ – using fruity language to make a humorous point about the firm’s strong service ethos. Operating from its head office
4 DIY WEEK SEPTEMBER 2023
in Suffolk, Howe Tools fulfils nearly 10,000 orders a month and is the number one rated tool shop on Trustpilot, due to its 30,500 reviews, 99 per cent of which are either four or five stars giving
a rating of “Excellent”. With 22 people fulfilling orders, Howe Tools has been successfully trading under the radar for several years, steadily gaining followers for its single-minded focus on
Regulations was challenging for many of our customers and we have been working hard to help them navigate this as smoothly as possible. “By presenting all the products and services in one place through the ‘Making Better Homes’ range we aim to create a one-stop-shop for everything tradespeople and builders need to remain compliant and build more sustainably. The data suggests that insulation and wastewater heat recovery systems are proving particularly popular, but it will be interesting to see what other opportunities arise in the second half of the year, as the industry continues to adopt more sustainable solutions.”
unparalleled customer service. Tim Howe, co-founder of
Howe Tools, said: “The three key ingredients which keep us in the top position on Trustpilot are a solid foundation based on robust technology, unrivalled customer service from a great team and their deep experience and product knowledge. Basically, reliability is our keyword, we do our job really well so our customers can get on and do theirs! But we’ve been told we’re the trade’s best kept secret, so we hope these risqué ads will raise a smile and get people talking about us.
personalities. The warm colour story reminds you of home, a place that feels comfortable and safe, and combines shades of stone, soil and clay.
the lines that matter most. “As we head into the autumn,
we are well-stocked with our extensive range of energy-saving products, as we look to support our customers in insulating their homes. While we remain mindful of the external environment, we are seeing customers turn to Wickes for our great value proposition. We are well on track for the remainder of the year and we have the right strategy in place to make further market share gains within the large home improvement sector.”
Zerowater and Förvara join BHETA
Water filtration company Zerowater has joined BHETA. One of the leading brands in water jugs, dispensers, bottles, and filtration products, Zerowater is known for its five-stage filtration system and has numerous ‘best buy’ accolades to its name. With distribution in most leading housewares retailers including Lakeland, Ocado, Dunelm and The Range, Zerowater products can also be purchased via the company’s ecommerce site. Distributor, designer and manufacturer of shelving and storage products, Forvara has also joined. Specialising in stylish home organisation, the company’s origins are in Scandinavia, hence the name Förvara which means to store or keep in Swedish. With its headquarters and main UK distribution centre in North Wales plus additional premises in Oxfordshire the company was founded in 2006. Its product range is sold in both the domestic and commercial markets and includes everything from wardrobes to libraries, retail stockrooms, offices, and hospitals. For more about BHETA and
the retailer networking, market data, lobbying and business support opportunities it offers, see
www.bheta.co.uk.
www.diyweek.net
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
