Notcutts Sees Annual Sales Decline

A tougher economic environment with inflation rising above 10% and energy costs escalating significantly during the year led to a more challenging trading year at Notcutts.

Turnover down 7.7%

The well documented increase in energy costs and wider cost of living crisis impacted consumer confidence and this, coupled with adverse weather conditions across the spring and summer gardening seasons, inevitably impacted sales and profit in the year.

Notcutts’ like-for-like turnover (excluding the newly acquired Brampton Garden Centre) at £73.5m was 7.7% down on the previous year. Total turnover was £75.6m.

Lower sales, a reduction in margin levels in some categories and significant external cost pressures meant that operating profits fell to £0.5m in the year.  Last year p.b.t was over £9m.

We expect trading to rebound

Nick Burrows, Chief Executive said: “Following several years of robust trading we believe we are well placed to withstand the current economic challenges. Our horticultural heritage and foundations are strong and we continue to provide an expanding, attractive gardening and leisure proposition that our customers rate highly – as seen with our highest ever customer satisfaction (NPS) scores in the year. We expect trading to rebound well as economic conditions improve.

Developing the portfolio

Notcutts acquired the freehold of Brampton Garden Centre (formerly Frosts) on 1st August 2022 to bring the number of garden centres in the group to 19. Nick Burrows said: “The integration of Brampton into Notcutts has gone smoothly and we are very pleased with this acquisition.”

Nick Burrows added: “We plan to maintain our focus on developing our garden centre portfolio to support the ongoing profitability of the business.

“This will include the completion of a project to restore the beautiful Messenger glasshouses at our Dukeries garden centre near Worksop, and the next phases of redevelopment projects in Oxford and Woodbridge.

“New investments are also planned in renewable energy including solar and EV charging installations, where we have collaborations with Push Energy and Osprey, as part of our extensive programme of initiatives to deliver carbon reduction goals.”

Caroline Notcutt added: “A programme of monthly and annual awards allow us to recognise and celebrate the achievements of colleagues and these are featured in our regular internal newsletter. An increasing range of online training and development resources now supplement in person training and are at the heart of our approach to leadership and personal development for colleagues. I am particularly pleased with our comprehensive new programme of training and development in horticultural skills and leadership.”

Environmental strategy

Turning to Notcutts' environmental strategy, Nick Burrows commented: “We have a clear policy and set of goals on biodiversity, sustainability and the environment which detail the steps we are taking to make progress in these areas. We are aligned to both the HTA and BRC roadmaps. Carbon reduction targets have been established across a range of areas within the business.”

For more information visit www.notcutts.co.uk

Source : Reproduced with kind permission from Gardenforum

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.