Squire’s Garden Centres has published its financial results for the year ending 31 July 2019. It was another year of record sales; turnover increased by 15% to £57m, helped by excellent weather conditions throughout the peak season. Turnover was also boosted by the addition of the newly acquired centre at Frensham, which joined the group on 1 August 2018. And in its first full year, the redeveloped Woking centre beat budget and made a strong contribution to sales growth.

Customer numbers in the garden centres, which dropped by 1% in the last financial year, rose by 10%. In the Café Bars, there was a very satisfactory gain of 6% (2018: +7%). Average transaction value (ATV) in the Garden Centres was up by +4% (2018: +3%) while in the Café Bars ATV rose +12% (2018: +5%). 

As a result of the substantial sales growth and improved margins, mitigated to some extent by higher payroll costs and overheads, profit before tax increased by 16% to £3.7m (LY: £3.2m) on an underlying basis.

Net debt (gross borrowings, less cash) dropped by £1.1m to £3.7m at the year-end.  Total capital investment in the year was £3.3m.

Notable events in the 2018/19 financial year included:

• Sarah Squire being appointed Chairman of the family business, taking over from her father Colin Squire OBE in January 2019.
• The start of a major extension of the shop and Café Bar at Squire’s in Milford in June 2019. The project will be completed by Spring 2020.
• Squire’s achieving success in the Garden Centre Association (GCA) inspections, with many of its centres being regional winners or finalists in their categories.

Following the purchase of Heathlands Garden Centre in Wokingham from Wyevale on 1 August 2019, the first day of the new financial year, Squire’s now has 16 garden centres across the South East. 

Squire’s is committed to continue growing the business in two ways. Firstly, by reinvesting profit back into its garden centres and Café Bars to keep upgrading them for staff and customers alike, and secondly by continuing to expand and acquire new centres. Squire’s believes it is vital to stick to what it is good at, and can control, aiming to ensure that its garden centres and Café Bars are attractive places to visit, with appealing ranges and excellent customer service on offer, while all the time focusing on keeping costs under control.

Plant Area at Squire’s Hersham.