In This Issue
The lockdown gardeners – who are they and how do we keep them?
When it rains... sales fall. Garden centre business as normal...
Fire & water - Woodlodge adds to product line-up for 2021
#millionplantingmoments as plant sales stay strong
Christmas grows by 21% with chocolate as the topping
Tong applies for planning permission for a second site
Firm acquires intellectual property of Internet Gardener
Royal visitor to Food Hall at Squire’s Frensham
Homebase launches UK’s first ‘Green Aisle’ to help shoppers make environmentally friendly choices
GCA members plan for a successful Christmas
Clear ‘N’ Collect combines functionality and sustainability for the most advanced rake yet!
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Rosebourne sign up Whalley and Ormrod
Planting in pots and houseplant care drive sales
Visors out sell facemasks in garden centres - updated
Wild weather boost for wildlife
Darlac appoints Business Development Manager
HTA’s Ornamentals Management Committe welcomes new appointments 
The best of last week's
Christmas gets off to a flying start – up 71%
Garden centre sales up 30% in September
Garden centres must work in partnership with suppliers
Blue Diamond interim results show resilient performance
The birth of a brand: Woodlodge’s new Honey & Wild range to ignite sales of garden décor in 2021
Retirement Village plan submitted for Solihull garden centre site
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
All the latest news from the world of pet products
Winners of the PATS Telford 2020 New Product Awards revealed
Pet and garden store chain commits to the high street
Mars Petcare to drive seasonal sales with festive additions
Team Beco recruit dogs to sniff out River Thames litter
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Blue Diamond interim results show resilient performance

Blue Diamond have reported profits before tax of £6.3m for the six months to June 2020.  That covers the period when all but one of their centres were closed for seven weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all restaurant closed for half of the time.

 

Total sales declined by 5% and the profit before tax was 12% down year on year excluding the profit made on the sale of freehold properties in 2019.

 

Chairman Simon Burke explained in his statement that additional bank facilities have not needed to be used: “ Cash has been conserved to the point where net cash flow was actually strongly positive in the period, and debt at 30 June represented just 0.8 times EBITDA, a gearing of 16.5%. These figures need to be seen in the context of a significant increase in creditors as many cash payments were delayed, a VAT deferral of £3m and the postponement of other liabilities including bonuses. Some of this cash will therefore have flowed back out since the period end, or will do so later, but it is good news that we have not needed to use the additional bank facilities we negotiated back in March.”

 

The board are recommending an interim dividend payment of 2p per share in line with 2019.

 

Simon Burke concludes his report by looking ahead: “I believe that garden centres will be one of the winners from this crisis, benefiting from a further decline in the attractiveness of high streets and large shopping centres, and people’s reinvigorated focus on their homes and gardens as a result of the pandemic. Blue Diamond’s broad, high quality ranges with so much exclusive product position us well to take advantage of these trends, as we have already seen in our continuing outperformance of industry figures.

 

"We also now have an operational online business that we can develop in coming years. It is still unclear what kind of world will emerge from the pandemic, but I am optimistic that Blue Diamond can continue to thrive in it.”

 

See the full interim report at: https://www.bluediamond.gg/sites/default/files/uploads/R%2BA_Interim%202020_FINAL.pdf

 

 

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