The chief executive of Blooms of Bressingham fell on his sword today as the garden centre group warned its full-year figures would miss City targets.
Chris Bertram resigned last night and has quit the company without, it is understood, a role to go to.
But his replacement, former sales and marketing boss Jon Kitching, insisted he was not sacked. He said: “Chris has stepped down. He felt he had taken the business through this pioneering process, the results have been disappointing and he therefore felt he should step down.”
The departure of Bertram, who lead the management team that bought Blooms in 1999, came after strong festive trading in November and December.
Like-for-like sales climbed 17.7% as green-fingered shoppers snapped up plants and garden furniture – sales were up 45.7% at the group’s Blooms centres and 7.3% at its Jardinerie outlets.
But Maidenhead-based Blooms had expected the figures to be around 10% higher, and said: “As a consequence, the trading result for the year to the end of January 2002 is likely to be somewhat below market expectations.”
Since joining Aim in 1999, Blooms has upped its number of outlets from two to 12 refurbished centres and slimmed down its landscaping business. But the group said today it needed a “much greater focus” on profit and cash generation if it was to reap the rewards.
Projects that do not immediately produce a profit will therefore be postponed and the management team shaken up.
Finance director Stephen Foale quits in April to become company secretary, while director of purchasing Alistair Lorimer picks up Kitching’s former role to become head of marketing and purchasing.
The group also said it wanted to raise around £2m via a placing, more details of which would be announced soon.
And despite the warning, Blooms was “confident” it would deliver profits in the coming financial year.
But shares in the group – which publishes final figures in April – slumped 8.5p to 71.5p, an 11% fall.
EGi News 24/01/02
