Garden arm fails to flourish
Home shopping group Flying Brands has warned on full year profits, because of a weak performance at its garden division - the second time in as many months - as like-for-likes declined 5 per cent during the second half of 2006.

However, group sales rose 19 per cent compared with the same period last year. Online like-for-likes were up 31 per cent.

Flying Flowers' sales were ahead of internal forecasts, but both the Garden and Entertainment divisions performed behind plan, as a result of low new customer recruitment and the continued warm weather. Greetings Direct, acquired in September, is trading in line with expectations.

Flying Brands chief executive Mark Dugdale said: 'Garden Bird Supplies [is] now fully integrated and Greetings Direct has made a promising start. We are also working hard on increasing our internet development which will deliver further growth in 2007, but we have some challenges in both our Garden and Entertainment divisions, which we are addressing urgently.'

The company said it is accelerating product expansion within the Garden division to reduce reliance on the volatile bedding sector and will be merging Listen2Books and Silverminds with effect from February, 'to create a unified entertainment brand with a single database of customers'.

The group claims it is in a strong position with its expanding portfolio. The company added: 'We anticipate strong performances from our recent acquisitions as we continue to integrate them cost effectively into our infrastructure.'

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