In This Issue
Wyevale Garden Centres add £16.5m to pension fund and buy £44m policy to secure future benefits
British Garden Centres jump to No 2 while Caulders and Otter Nurseries become equal 10th biggest garden centre groups
Give customers what they really want with elho
Mike Withers sells Trebaron to Newbank
Santorini Swing is another top design from Zest 4 Leisure
Wyevale Elm Court gets to continue as a garden centre
Glee goes Floral Thursday for Greenfingers
Glee New Product Awards 2019 - Winners revealed
Glee New Products 2019 – Shortlisted Products
Glee Buyers Power List Winners Revealed
New Product Awards for Pets@Glee revealed
Boyd Douglas-Davies appointed as HTA President
PATS Telford is the BEST place for garden centres to source new pet products
Prongcroft brings fresh approach to garden care
Woodlodge’s ‘Fountain of Fizz’ raffle helps to raise vital funds for Greenfingers
Garden Re-Leaf 2020 officially launched at Glee
Traditional garden centre category sales soar thanks to hottest July on record
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Best Green Heart Display winners confirmed
GMA sets out road map timelines towards sustainable growing media
Travel with the Ball Colegrave Sponsored Scholarship
HRH Princess Alexandra will attend 180th Festival Dinner as guest of honour
The best of last week's
Wyevale Garden Centres announces sale of all remaining centres to British Garden Centres
Wyevale Garden Centres sells remaining trading business
Westland commit to £1.5m TV campaign for peat free growing media
SBM switches to sole distribution deal with Stax
Essex centre's August Christmas launch 'went bananas'
spoga+gafa 2019 - GTN Xtra photo tour
IGCA 2019 - 250 delegates from across the world visit UK garden centres
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Garden Centre Photo Tour - RHS Wisley New Plant Centre
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
110 new products competing for lunch! Innovation Challenge Awards
Send us your news and great ideas

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






Wyevale Garden Centres sells remaining trading business
Wyevale Garden Centres (“WGC”) today announces that it has sold its remaining trading business to British Garden Centres.
 
Since the sale process began in May 2018, WGC have sold 145 garden centres in 57 separate transactions, with over 90% continuing to trade as garden centres and over 95% of garden centres colleagues continuing to work in a sector that they love.
 
WGC has transformed beyond recognition in the last three years, with significant improvements across the business. The team has delivered better prices and ranges, much improved stock availability and high operational standards, all underpinned by great customer service from engaged and experienced colleagues. This proved the perfect backdrop to the sale process and has ensured that each centre has a new owner who is committed to building their own business off this strong foundation.
 
The WGC team have built strong relationships across the industry and sought to match each centre to the right buyer, resulting in key operators purchasing centres across multiple transactions. A total of 37 centres have been sold to Dobbies across three separate transactions, 37 centres will be sold to British Garden Centres in six separate transactions, 16 centres were sold to Blue Diamond in three separate transactions, and five centres have been sold to Hillier.
 
The business enjoyed an exceptional spring season, with record breaking sales, and has continued to trade favourably in recent months, against the backdrop of the final stages of the sale process. This year’s success is attributable to the extraordinary efforts of WGC colleagues, who together made WGC a better business.
 
The sale to British Garden Centres will now trigger an orderly closure process over the coming months, including finalising all payments and obligations due to WGC’s key stakeholders, all of which will continue to be met in full.
 
Justin King, Executive Chairman of Wyevale Garden Centres, said: “In May 2018 we said it was the right time to launch a sales process for WGC following a large number of improvements made to the business under the new leadership team, resulting in our centres looking and performing better than ever. 
 
“Our focus was on seeking new long-term owners for the centres and running the process in a way which protected and supported all our stakeholders, including WGC colleagues, while maximising returns for our shareholder. I am delighted that sixteen months on we have succeeded in that goal with the vast majority of centres and colleagues remaining within the sector and customers now benefitting from a wider choice of garden centre operators.
 
“I would particularly like to thank Anthony Jones, our COO and his team for managing a complex disposal process with skill and dedication whilst maintaining a forensic focus on operations and trading, which has enabled a strong performance during key periods”.
 
Anthony Jones, COO of Wyevale Garden Centres said: “As we move to the conclusion of this complex sale process, I want to pay tribute to everyone at WGC for their tremendous support and hard work. Their expertise combined with a tireless dedication and commitment to delivering for both customers and their fellow colleagues during this period of great uncertainty has been phenomenal.
 
"I am extremely proud that the outcome of the sale means over 90% of the centres sold will remain within the sector, and over 95% of garden centre colleagues will transfer to garden centre operators. This result could not have been achieved without the tenacity of our teams, all of whom have repeatedly gone ‘over and above’ to achieve positive outcomes.
 
"The wide array of changes made to the business over the last three years have paid off - our centres have looked better than ever during the sale process and our customer satisfaction measures reached record highs. These improvements led to overwhelming interest from established garden centre operators and the ultimate success of the sale process.
 
"I would like to thank all of our colleagues, suppliers, partners and customers for their unwavering support and I wish them all the best for the future.”
 
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg | Comment (0)
Comment
Name:*

Email Address:*

Comment:*