Dobbies Garden Centres Group has blamed unseasonable weather and high inflation for its widening losses.
Pre-tax losses for the gardening retailer plunged to £130.8m in the 52 weeks to 5 March, a steep drop from the £21.3m loss the year before.
Sales dropped 8% from £303.6m to £278.7m, which it attributed to the impact of “adverse weather in Spring 2022 exacerbated by the macroeconomic conditions resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis”.
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Dobbies, which has 77 stores across the UK, said that trading in the second-half of the year was hit by delayed refinancing of its debt facilities, which involved short-term cash preservation such as discounting of stock and reduced intake that in turn affected product availability.
The group said it has repositioned the business “with an absolute focus on value and has continued to develop a robust and efficient platform to support resilience and future growth”.
Earlier this year, Dobbies named the former chief operating officer at Pets at Home David Robinson as its new chief executive.
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There’s a large garden centre a couple of miles from me. A family owned business for decades and much frequented. A few years ago the garden centre has been largely ruined by a refit into a standard Dobbies chain format following their acquisition of the site. It felt like a tangible loss for the area, daft as that may sound. Its individuality, history, and soul gone, just like that. Perhaps there’s something to be learnt from this, if its not too late.
The reason for Dobbies losses is because they are way too expensive. When you visit a Dobbies everyone is in the restaurant!!
If they didn’t charge double any other retailer for their plants they might get more customers buy from them. As it is they’ve priced themselves out of the market.