Gardman Chief Executive Mark Pearson says the company now has the financial confidence to invest in its strategy and growth.

He admitted to GTN Xtra that the financial restructuring of the business had taken longer than anticipated but described the outcome as a ‘great result’.

“It’s brilliant to be able to announce it just before Christmas and we can look forward to the New Year with confidence,” said Mark.

“We are now in a position to have a good gardening year. I think everyone involved in the gardening industry is owed that.”

Despite rumours circulating for months that Gardman were in dire financial problems, Mark said the trading part of the business was never in trouble.

“Cash hasn’t been a problem and we’ve never been in danger of not paying our suppliers,” revealed Mark. “The main issue has been with the intermediate holding company who had taken on a huge debt when the company was bought in 2007.

“The company was bought by a private equity company, Barclays Private Equity, which later became Equistone. We all know what happened with the world economy and financial markets, and that huge debt became a burden. That debt has been written off under a new agreement with the banks.

“But I must stress that during the past few years our trading companies have never had any worries about paying its creditors. Yes, the financial position has been a distraction but we are now focused on our future plans.

“We have got some great new categories and products and I would urge retailers to get right behind the Gardman brand because we have every confidence that 2013 will be a good year.”

Mark also dismissed talk that Gardman were planning to exit the wild bird care market.

“We’d be crackers to take that action,” he said. “It’s a very profitable sector of the market and we intend to defend our position – in fact we’ll be doing all we can to grow it.”