Dobbies Garden Centres has announced a droop in full-year sales and profits – but said the results put the retailer in a strong position for growth.
The garden centre chain’s pre-tax profit fell 35% year on year to £5.1m in the 12 months to February 25, mainly due to one-off items last year.
The retailer, which recorded a 1.5% decline in sales to £148.3m, said range changes implemented during the second half of the year led to lower footfall and conversion, particularly during the Christmas trading period.
However, Dobbies was incorporated in June 2017 and therefore has a shorter accounting period for the previous corresponding financial year.
Graeme Jenkins, who was appointed chief executive earlier this year, said: “Dobbies has delivered a strong trading performance so far this year.
“This gives us a solid foundation for growing the business, organically and through further acquisitions.
“Our trading performance is a credit to the team who have focused on understanding what Dobbies customers want and in turn re-establishing our range authority.
“We have also started to invest across the estate to expand our offer and improve our customers’ shopping experience at Dobbies.”
A strategic review was undertaken in January and the company said trading benefited from this review with six consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth of over 11%.
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