2012 PRO AWARDS: Report and pictures of the glittering Industry Awards, incorporating Dealer of the Year Awards and Turf Pro Awards, held on the first evening of SALTEX
SALTEX 2012: Show review and new products on show at the leading turfcare exhibition
FEATURE: Compact Tractors: What's new in the compact tractor market
DEALER PROFILE: Winchester Garden Machinery, winner of the 2012 Garden Machinery Dealer of the Year Award
COURSE REVIEW: Sundridge Park Golf Club, a hidden gem seven miles from the centre of London
PRODUCT FEATURE: Wiedenmann launch a new line up of machines in Germany
IN OUR ELEMENTS Weather still at the core of our business
IT has been, by all accounts, a pretty reasonable season for the grass machinery industry - and once again, business has been driven by the weather.
Who would have thought it back in April when the front cover of Service Dealer splashed on the potentially dire consequences of a hosepipe ban imposed across large parts of the country? Special dispensations were sought. Delegations descended on the water companies. Pictures of parched and empty reservoirs filled the pages of the newspapers.
But it turned out to be a master-stroke of kidology.
Just as in 1976, when the Government appointed Denis Howell as Minister for Drought, only for the heavens to open a few days after his appointment, this year the same. Hosepipe ban one day, and it wouldn’t stop raining the next day, or the next, or the next . . .. and we ended up with the wettest summer on record.
But just to see how much the weather impacts on our industry, no matter how broad-based your business, just look at what Husqvarna have been saying about their Q3 results which shows nett sales 8% down on last year.
CEO, Hans Linnarson says “Sales in North America were negatively impacted by the worst drought conditions for many years, whilst in Europe demand was adversely affected by cautious consumers and continued unfavourable weather conditions”. In other words, blame the weather.
Across at Briggs & Stratton, the ‘unusually dry conditions’ in the United States was one of the factors cited by CEO Todd Teske, for a 22% drop in sales for the company’s Q1 results compared with last year. He added “reduced sales into the lawn and garden market were only partially offset by the impact of Hurricane Issac which had less of an impact than Hurricane Irene last year”.
Words that were uttered barely a week before Hurricane Sandy ripped across the Eastern seaboard of the US.
Freak conditions that will have jump-started business (as long as they can meet demand) for generator suppliers such as B&S, for chainsaw manufacturers and snow-blower makers with the resulting snow-storms which would have made a dent in the surplus stock left over from a largely snow-less season last winter in the US.
Ah well, it’s worth remembering that “In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly happen”, yet it was 25 years ago that much of southern Britain was devasted by The Great Storm. And now from the drought of April we are warned of rivers overful and the increased risk of flooding across the UK. Hands to the water pumps . . .
The 2013 Event Planner in a new, larger size, will once again contain dates of all the national and international industry shows and events. Published with the December issue of Turf Pro/Service Dealer TO ADVERTISE GEORGE MILLER E-mail or 020 3603 7936
