In This Issue
The Greatest Plant Retailing Teams are at Scotsdales, Cowells and The Old Railway Line
Gardman has new owners with £5m to invest in brands, stock and moving forward
Hillier Nurseries voted The Greatest Plant Supplier of the Year
Coolings are the masters of linked sales in the planteria, closely followed by Percy Throwers Wyevale, Van Hage Great Amwell and Cowells
Fron Goch scoop The Greatest Plant Advice Team Gold
Bents are "Top of the Pots"
Salvia Love & Wishes takes Best in Show title at New Plant Awards
The Greatest Outdoor Living Sales gold winners to be presented at spoga+gafa
GTN Bestsellers date predicts June sales boost
Glee’s Green Heart grows in 2015
HTA Futures is the venue for The Greatest Garden Centre Team Awards 2015
Plant Area Manager - Destination Garden Centre - Large Group
Horticulture Manager - Essex - Established Centre
Landscape Project Manager - East of England
Contracts Manager - Soft Landscape Construction - South
Wyevale Nurseries win Best Plant Display Award at HTA National Plant Show
Lighting product sales still shining brightly
Tomato plants are biggest veg sales movers
Farmyard manure is a top seller
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Catering Tip of the Week: Braille Menu
Window of opportunity for bird care sales
Situations Vacant
Plant Area Manager - Destination Garden Centre - Large Group
£20k -£25k per annum
Read more»
Horticulture Manager - Essex - Established Centre
£17k -£20k per annum
Read more»
Landscape Project Manager - East of England
£25k - £30k per annum
Read more»
Contracts Manager - Soft Landscape Construction - South
£34k to £35k per annum
Read more»
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Contact us with your news.  Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700

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Gardman has new owners with £5m to invest in brands, stock and moving forward

The management team at Gardman, led by Chairman Jonathan Halford have completed a management buy out of the business, backed by Rutland Partners.

Sales Director, Steve Harper, told GTN Xtra this morning; "It's awesome.  Gardman is now on a really strong footing going forward. This is really, really positive."

"Garden centres can expect the business to have a new vigour in driving forward with £5m to be invested into brands, stock and new developments."

"Rutland Partners are completely behind our strategy of growing the business with our 5 brand structure.  They understand that agents are an important part of our business model.  we have over 30 people representing Gardman, all with a massive amount of experience."

"We will have over 300 new products at Glee."

Rutland Partners are also investors in well known companies: Maplin, Pizza Hut and Bernard Matthews.  On their web site they state: "Where other private equity firms might look for market growth to justify their investment, we look to the inherent potential in the business for improved performance. Does it have a sustainable competitive proposition and can it take control of the challenges it faces? In other words, 'Can we make a difference here?'

The full statement from Gardman reads:

We are very pleased to announce that Gardman Limited has today been bought out by its management, backed by private equity fund Rutland Partners.

With renewed focus, increased financial strength, and a management team led by Chairman Jonathan Halford, Gardman is now well placed to build on its reputation as the market leading Supplier of sundries into the UK garden market.

“This deal represents the best possible future for Gardman” said Jonathan Halford. “Over the last 2 years Gardman has been through an essential but challenging period of change. Thanks to the dedication, commitment and loyalty of our Employees, Agents and Customers we have emerged a far stronger business culminating in today’s announcement.”

Mr Halford continued “This new investment therefore marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Gardman’s future and together with Rutland’s experience in delivering business transformation, provides us with the platform to deliver our ambitious future growth plans. This will include continued focus on our recently launched brands strategy, further improvements in the product range and an investment in operations to deliver higher service levels to customers.”

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to invest in Gardman and back Jonathan in his strategy to improve performance and develop the business further,” added Ben Slatter of Rutland. “We believe that Gardman’s long established brand, much valued Agency sales force and nationwide distribution network will stand us in good stead to take the business to the next level. To this end we are very pleased to provide the immediate funding platform.


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