Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC) has announced that it has sold its remaining trading business to British Garden Centres, which will use the portfolio of stores as a springboard to enter the south of England market.
Since WGC launched a sale process in May 2018,it has sold 145 garden centres in 57 separate transactions, with over 90% continuing to trade as garden centres and more than 95 per cent of staff retaining their jobs.
A total of 37 centres have been sold to Dobbies across three separate transactions, 37 centres will be sold to British Garden Centres in six separate transactions, 16 centres were sold to Blue Diamond in three separate transactions, and five centres have been sold to Hillier.
WGC said: ‘The sale to British Garden Centres will now trigger an orderly closure process over the coming months, including finalising all payments and obligations due to WGC’s key stakeholders, all of which will continue to be met in full.’
WGC executive chairman Justin King commented: “In May 2018 we said it was the right time to launch a sales process for WGC following a large number of improvements made to the business under the new leadership team, resulting in our centres looking and performing better than ever.
“Our focus was on seeking new long-term owners for the centres and running the process in a way which protected and supported all our stakeholders, including WGC colleagues, while maximising returns for our shareholder. I am delighted that 16 months on we have succeeded in that goal with the vast majority of centres and colleagues remaining within the sector and customers now benefitting from a wider choice of garden centre operators.”
