Following yesterday’s release of Dobbies’ figures for the 12 months ending 23 February 2025; Oliver Maddison, apparel analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view: “Dobbies has put itself in a better position to return to profitability, following the closure of 24 loss-making sites earlier this year, but the work of its turnaround plan is far from over. While the closure of these stores reduced its overall sales by £56.0m in FY2024/25, they also proved less of a drag on profitability, with operating losses substantially improving. Nonetheless, the revenue of continuing operations still declined by 3.9%, a worse performance than fellow garden centre proprietor Blue Diamond, which saw its turnover for the calendar year 2024 (excluding its acquisition of Frosts) decline by a less concerning 1.8%, as both suffered from unfavourable weather. Dobbies’ turnaround plan, especially its site closures, will have diverted senior management’s focus from the day-to-day operations of stores, and so this difference is likely to reduce moving forward.
“Dobbies’ future performance will primarily be a function of execution; senior management have clear ideas of how to move the business forward including investments in store layouts and range, as well as a greater focus on the restaurant side of the business. The emphasis on restaurant growth is sensible, as it would help to turn its garden centres into shopping and social destinations. In its 2024 results, Blue Diamond saw far greater like-for-like (l-f-l) growth in its restaurant business (+9.1%) compared to that of its garden centres (+2.1%) for the same reason. The beginnings of this transformation are already in progress: four of Dobbies’ remaining 53 sites have already been renovated and a further six are either underway or due to start, although a timeline for the other 43 was not mentioned. Dobbies’ FY2025/26 has thus far shown improvement; l-f-l sales (aided by more favourable weather conditions) are growing, while the retailer also discussed improved relationships with suppliers, better and stock availability and higher gross profit margins, showing that the green shoots of recovery seem to be appearing.”
