Ask a gardener or a landscaper to name a famous brand in the garden nursery business and I would hazard a guess that Notcutts would be on tip of many a tongue.
The name Notcutts has associated with plant production at Woodbridge in Suffolk for 110 years and has sold off the side of the business for which it is synonymous and concentrate on the garden centre retailing business at the 13 centres that it owns.
A new company called John Woods Nurseries Ltd, formed by John Lord and John Kirkum.
Kirkum and Lord previously worked as finance director and Managing Director for the Notcutts group but a stragtegic review highlighted the opportunity to prune away the production and wholesale business.
Eggs in one basket
Worryingly for the new John Wood business is that Notcutts are the biggest client on their books so the Notcutts influence will be strong and in what will be a challenging environment the 'eggs in one basket' analogy springs to mind.
So what do you think - has Notcutts sold the family jewels or is the move to join the Tesco bandwagon a good thing for the garden centre retail sector?
Personally, I would have ring-fenced the nursery side, implemented a cross business supply chain and fixed margins and kept all of it but with separate management.
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