In This Issue
How lucky we are!
British Garden Centres make it 58 with acquisition of Thatcham
Woodlodge brings Glee to its Gloucestershire showroom
Garland continues its new product launch policy by adding 54 items for next season
It could take a decade for British nurseries to recover from Covid-19 lockdown
READYBLAZE … Safer, Greener and Ready to Burn
New style of gardening just keeps on growing
Garden centre urges public to name and shame fly-tipper
Traeger – the original wood pellet grill
Garden centre and nursery faces uncertain future
Global Journey Christmas Face Masks coming soon
Project Regeneration launched at Burford House and Gardens
Glee New Product Awards 2020 - Entries continue to flood in
Good demand for garden plants at Autumn Showroom
First consignment of DJ Turfcare’s new Autumn Lawn Treatment sells out
People’s Choice Award winners announced for the 2020 Farwest Show New Varieties Showcase
Scholarship season open for horticulture students
Never fear, Glee Daily News is here
Apta looks to strengthen merchandising team
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Record August for garden products
Glee New Product Awards 2019 - The Winners
Now is the time to: Review - Re-plan - Rebuild … your business.
August doubles up for growing media
Houseplant sales bloom in July
Plant sales up 30%
EU Exit - No plant inspections at borders until July welcome, but key changes still needed says HTA
Wild Bird Care continues to fall during the summer
The best of last week's
Record Growing Media volumes continue to keep all garden centre sales at all time summer high
Covid-19 incidents at Dobbies in Ayr and British Garden Centres at East Durham
Customers saddened by garden centre closure
The Greener Gardening Company works around the clock to meet exceptional demand for growing media 
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
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
Heavyweight multimedia campaign takes Peckish bird brand to new heights
Private equity firm sells its share of pet food firm
Pet treats boom as Brits bid to beat lockdown blues
Situations Vacant
Apta looks to strengthen merchandising team
Four Product Merchandiser vacancies
 

Apta, the leading supplier of quality flowerpots and accessories to the UK garden trade, is looking to strengthen its merchandising team with the recruitment of motivated and ambitious Product Merchandisers...

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Private equity firm sells its share of pet food firm

Piper, a leading UK private equity firm specialising in consumer brands with strong growth potential, has exited its investment in natural dog food brand Forthglade to IK Investment Partners. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
 
Based in Devon, Forthglade has been making high quality, natural dog food for nearly 50 years. The business develops its own recipes using a combination of nutritionally balanced ingredients (95% sourced from the UK) with added vitamins and minerals that contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
 
Piper invested £6m into the business in September 2015 when the business had sales of £11m. Piper’s investment has enabled the business to increase sales to £22m, with branded sales increasing more than four times. This has been driven by increased distribution, the development of a strong direct to consumer channel and the continued innovation in product range both of its broad range of tray based wet food as well as the introduction of cold pressed dry food and treats. In 2018 Forthglade built a 70,000sq ft state of the art manufacturing facility in Okehampton that would enable the business to triple production capacity. The company employs 130 people.
 
Following the transaction, Gerard Lovell and Chris Brooking, who originally bought Forthglade in 2011, will continue to lead the business alongside IK Investment Partners.
 
Libby Gibson, partner of Piper, said: “Our goal at Piper is to discover consumer businesses with great potential and help build them into brand legends. The team at Forthglade have done an outstanding job in making Forthglade such an iconic brand in the highly competitive pet food market, and it has been a great pleasure to work alongside them to help them realise their ambitions. We wish them every success in the future.”
 
Joint Managing Director Gerard Lovell said: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Piper whose support and expertise have been invaluable in helping us achieve so much. We are much looking forward to working with IK Investment Partners to continue building Forthglade into a global brand.”

Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive corporate finance advisor to the shareholders.

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