Gardman founder Paris Natar has acquired a majority stake in Smart Solar Ltd for an undisclosed sum, the company announced yesterday.

Natar has been running garden products businesses since 1982, when he set up PAN Products, followed by Gardman. In 2008, he sold Gardman to Barclays Private Equity in a deal worth £85m.

“Smart Solar is a great company,” he said today.  “It has a strong and very committed management team that has navigated this long recession effectively and profitably. Having concluded that early retirement was not my cup of tea, I made an approach to see if Smart Solar might be interested in working with me....and they were!”

Jonathan Stobart, chief executive of Smart Solar, which he set up in 2003, said: “We are very pleased that Paris has chosen to invest in us and join the team as chairman. He brings a wealth of industry-specific experience and I am confident he will add significant value to our already vibrant and rapidly expanding business.”

Smart Solar Ltd has been acquired through a holding company formed for the purpose, SGP Holdings (UK) Ltd, with Natar and Stobart as the sole shareholders.  Natar said: “I have the highest regard for Jonathan and the sterling work he has done since founding Smart Solar ten years ago. I very much look forward to working with him and his team in the years ahead.”

They said their message to the garden industry was: “Watch this space!”

Plans for the relocation of St John’s Garden Centre at Barnstaple to a new out of town green field site were approved by North Devon Council’s planning committee today.

Wholesale re-location of this kind is rare in the garden centre industry, the last example being Barton Grange, who moved their Preston centre five miles north to a state-of-the-art development at Brock in 2008.

The Oliver family, who own St John’s, have had to wait five years to bring their master plan to fruition on a new, larger site at Roundswell between Barnstaple and Bideford. The approved development is a 6,475 sq.m. complex with a retail garden centre, restaurant, classroom and exhibition space and a ‘farmers’ market’ area, with 173 car parking spaces. The popular Jungleland attraction will be included. The project could create another 40 jobs.

Planning approval was deferred while an environmental, highways issues and other legislative issues were resolved

Council planning officers had recommended approval subject to an agreement to contribute funding towards local infrastructure. They said the pressure on the green field site would be outweighed by extra employment and economic benefits.

They added that an agreed package of Devon County Council highway improvement works at nearby Roundswell roundabout will help to make the crossing of the A39 by pedestrians and cyclists an easier journey.

Does this weeks GTN Bestsellers All Products Index really indicate there is light at the end of the tunnel?  Total sales volumes were just ahead of our GTN Bestsellers prediction keeping us on course for an aggregate volume sales performance of +3% on last year by the end of May.

And as Paris Natar takes a controlling share in Smart Solar, it’s garden lighting that is the star performer in our charts as the weather improves.  Gardeners may not be quite ready to buy plant food, pest controls or growing media but they are very happy to purchase some tea light holders or solar lights for their garden.

This year there are 6 garden lighting products in the GTN Bestsellers Top 50 Garden Products Chart, treble the number in either of the two previous years, and sales volumes are three times those of last year (it was the second easter week but not good weather) and double those of 2011.

If you want to light up your sales, make sure you are getting your garden lighting products in high traffic hotspots – and get those single solar post lights on sale at the tills!  Who knows, further growth in garden lighting could push us even further up on last year by the end of May!

For more information on the GTN Bestsellers Charts look out for Saturdays GTN Xtra e-mail newsleller or follow this link to last weeks chart stories.  Or better still subscribe to the GTN Bestsellers Weekly service and get the charts direct to your desk, your mobile or your PC.  A subscription costs only £120.00 per year.  To subscribe on-line click here, or call the GTN Xtra team on 07973 504214.

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.

New for this year, every week we'll give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £120.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here

 

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

Gardman have appointed former Hozelock MD Bernard Shannon, as sales director.  He joins the board this month to drive an ambitious commercial plan designed to develop strong partnerships with customers.

“The past year has been incredibly challenging for most in the industry, and Gardman has risen to the challenge,” Shannon said. “I’m really looking forward to working with the team to build an industry-leading programme that will help our retail partners trade their way profitably through the season.”

Before Hozelock, Shannon spent several years as sales director at Energizer Inc. with responsibility for the Energizer batteries and Wilkinson Sword brands.

He will report to the Gardman Group chairman Jonathan Halford, who said: “Bernard brings a wealth of highly relevant experience and he already knows our customers, which gives him a huge head start. With the support of the dedicated sales team at Gardman, I am confident that Bernard will successfully drive our plans forward."