Strange company 'gone into administration'

Stara_2

Sorry about Hurrans especially for the staff, but it's been a long time comming. The company has not been doing too well over the last few years and have not been moving with the times compared to their contempories. lloyds had finally had enough and with a massive pension deficit they had no choice, it may well have been taken out of the Directors hands.
Alot of Garden centres are struggling, even the big chains. They rely on Large Christmas and Spring sales to get them through the quieter Summer months (after everything is planted) so it's no wonder the chain has gone at this time of the year, if they had poor Christmas sales the bank would not hold on any longer for the spring rush to see if trade picks up.

lesley1960

Looking at their accounts they must have been struggling for a few years.Just because they may have looked busy doesnt mean they have been making money .

FelOn_2

izzybusy23 wrote: »

Our local garden centre has gone into administration

Look on the bright side, at least a solvent developer can use all that land used for rubbish shrubs and build some spanking new houses on it.

movingforward2010

awww hope no more go, love going to garden centres except when i get to the till and it over £100

tomstickland

Is it Hurrans?
Edit: Yes.

I used to know them, did some work at a few of the centres (laid the slabs at the back of the Newport store in about 1995).

John_Pierpoint

In a recession most small businesses are brought up short by the bank cutting their overdraft. This in theory should only be a "seed time to harvest" loan not the capital of the business.

For companies without debt, then HMR&C are usually the organisation to call "time", they don't like to be kept waiting.:rolleyes:

A lot of businesses, in this recession are realising they could stay in business, if only they could get rid of the debts. It is a bit like the foreclosure laws in USA.
Create firm B and then put firm A into liquidation.
Obviously the best company to buy the business, free of debt, is firm B. They have years of experience. Job done - shame about the foolish suppliers who allowed their Accounts Receivable to get out of hand.

Davesnave

As someone who used to propagate, grow-on & sell plants, as opposed to just buying them in, I'm not particularly sad to see these 'Tescos' of the plant world struggling. It's the real nurseries I feel sorry for, but the leaner, meaner specialists, who do it for love rather than big money, will probably survive.

Lotus-eater

Hi Dave, where have you been? Moving house?

The good nurseries will survive, I agree with you though, the Tescos of the nursery world can disappear for all I care, I can walk round them and despair of finding anything good in there.

Btw I've loads of snow this morning!! Most for at least ten years, wish I'd marked those parsnips now

LOUY_2

My guess is that they ran out of cash. Most businesses run on credit. They buy their stock on credit, and often sell to customers on credit. But Cash is King.

If they have no cash when the creditors come calling for it, then the business dies.

So maybe they purchased stock before and now they need to pay and cant.
Maybe their suppliers are no longer selling on credit and they have no cash to pay outright for supplies.
Maybe they sold to customers on credit, who can no longer pay.

It doesnt matter what time of year you buy or sell. Just make sure you have received the cash in time to pay when the debt is due.

Davesnave

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Hi Dave, where have you been? Moving house?

The good nurseries will survive, I agree with you though, the Tescos of the nursery world can disappear for all I care, I can walk round them and despair of finding anything good in there.

Btw I've loads of snow this morning!! Most for at least ten years, wish I'd marked those parsnips now

Yes, thanks, just had a nightmare fortnight moving house and living without the Interweb.

The rented place has a 'sleeping beauty' garden about 75' long, full of briars & convolvulus, which have crept out at the extremities. The first thing the neighbour said was 'Are you a gardener?' I decided to please him, so cut down all the briars, ready to knock them back with SBK when they re-grow.
It will just be a containment job though; my landlord hasn't even provided a lawnmower & doesn't deserve a proper makeover.

We still have another garden back at our old house, a quarter of a mile away, as we kept the nursery part of the land there as an investment. So, we still have the big greenhouse and all the stock; in fact we've booked to do a couple of shows!

A good few inches of snow here this a.m. No parsnips or anything else to dig, but it's very pretty.