The company said the challenging retail environment was "further compounded by an unseasonably cold start to the spring season".

According to the group's financial accounts for the year ended 28 February 2014, turnover was £55.9m, up from £53.8m the year before.

But there was a substantial drop in operating profits - from £1.7m to £321,624 - due to an increase in distribution and administration costs as well as a decline in other operating income.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profits, which were impacted by an increase in finance costs, fell from £2.7m to £1.2m.

Writing in Notcutts Group's annual report, chairman Roger Pedder said: "The retail environment continues to be challenging and was further compounded by an unseasonably cold start to the spring season which impacted garden centre retailing particularly hard.

"Trading improved in the summer and second half of the year beating the previous years' results and reclaiming some of the lost ground for the full year."

Andrew Staff, chief operating officer at Notcutts, added: "2014 has been an extremely important year for us in terms of investing in both new and current retail sites, so it’s encouraging to see this work is reflected in our turnover growth."

At the year end, Notcutts Group employed 1,130 staff.