Garden Centre Results Show Impact Of First Lockdown

Here are some of the company results published on Gardenforum’s Company Results in the last 2 months.  The date in brackets refers to the year end date.  Pbt refers to profit before tax, but after interest and other charges.  Figures written as £123k mean £123,000.  We make no attempt to explain the results.  Further details can be seen on Company Results.

Garden Centres:

D Stewart & Sons (January 2020) edged sales higher to £14.2m with profit before tax (pbt) falling to £141k from £422 the year before.

As reported earlier Dobbies Garden Centres Group (Feb 2020).  increased sales from £166m to £252m a +52% due to the impact of the garden centres bought from Wyevale for part of the year.  Profits plunged to a loss of £-34m. Borrowings almost doubled from £299m to £593m.  See earlier report.

Crocus (October 2020) increased sales by +18% to £23.1m over the period that included the first lockdown.  And returned a positive pbt for the first time for a while at £877k

Goulds (Dorchester) (January 2020) held sales steady at £12.7m and recovered to breakeven from a loss of -£499k the year before.

QD Commercial Holdings (February 2020) that operates QD Stores and Cherry Lane Garden Centres improved sales by +9% to £86.1m.  Pbt was static at £1.6m.

R.H.S. Enterprises (January 2020) recovered sales to £21.5m after a slight dip the previous year.  Pbt was lower by -£1m at £5m.

Losses continue with a pbt of -£1.2m at Rosebourne (Jan 2020) despite a +58% increase in sales to £11.4.  This included the first year of trading for Aldermaston.

TGC (2015), which trades as Tong Garden Centre, (June 2020) increased sales by +4% over the period covering the first lockdown to £9.5m.  Pbt dropped back to £464k, and borrowings increased by +30% to £5.6m.

Newbank Garden Centre (February 2020) with 5 sites in the North of England revealed sales of £10.6m and a pbt of £928k. 

Suppliers:

A&E Leisure (Dec 2019) increased sales +23% in a 13 month year to £10.6m. Pbt increased to £522k.

Sales fell -4% Alitex (March 2020) to £9.1m. Pbt fell to £522k.

Armitages Pet Products (May 2020) lifted sales by +13% to £66.2m lifting pbt to £8.0m.

Andreas Stihl (December 2019) has lifted sales marginally to £107m although pbt reduced slightly to £6.1m.

Book supplier Baker & Taylor (UK) (March 2020) experienced an -8% fall in sales to £24.6m. Pbt fell sharply to £268k.

There was a sharp increase in sales over the first lockdown for Branded Garden Products, the owner of Thompson & Morgan (Aug 2020).  Sakes jumped +46% to £50m, while pbt leapt to £8.5m.

Charcoal supplier Big K Products (UK) (Sept 2020) added +6% to sales at £22.2m despite the first lockdown. Pbt of £1.0m was a recovery from last year.

Prior to lockdown Decco sales (December 2019) edged higher to £98.1m, while pbt increased by +14% to £3.2m.

Henry Bell & Co (Grantham) (June 2020) saw a -4% reduction of sales covering the first lockdown period to £26.2m.  Pbt held steady at £349k.

Sales at Home Hardware Southwest (June 2020) fell -6% over the first lockdown to £27.4m.  PBT was negligible.

Hozelock (September 2020) lifted sales +7% in the year covering the first lockdown, to £69.6m.  Pbt was sharply higher at £14.4m.

Lows of Dundee (September 2020) saw a -6% drop in sales to £11.6m over the first lockdown, but a rise in pbt to £254k.

Newey (formerly Roundstone Nurseries) (December 2019) sales jumped +42% to £29.5m, but fell to a pbt loss of £-481k.

The Greener Gardening Company (Kirkby) (March 2020), formerly White Moss Horticulture, increased sales by +35% to £11.5m.  Losses continued at a lower level at £-1.5m.  Total borrowings increased from £25m to £37m as the trade of Bord na Mona was transferred at the end of the financial year.

Source : Reproduced with permission from George Bullivant of Garden Forum

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.