Jardiland now fit for further expansion

Growth is expected in the numbers of both integrated branches and independent garden centres under the franchising umbrella. The new organisational structure is also intended to make it possible to raise capital from an outside source if necessary.
This is the reason why the group implemented an increase in share capital at the beginning of the year in a move that brought in additional garden centres. The first two franchisees to support this were none other than Etienne Bordet, founder of the retail format, and chief executive officer Jean-Paul Demaugé. They exchanged their 31 garden centres for shares in Jardiland. The result was an increase in the number of corporate stores to 45 from the previous total of 14. Even if all 15 Jardiland franchisees do likewise, making the most of the opportunity, the future of the franchise stores, the essential part of the group, would not be called into question.
The Jardiland garden centers have an average retail area of 6.000 m².
The 45 corporate stores (the Jardiland and Vive le Jardin formats plus the six outlets in Spain) generated sales of 200 mio € last year, while the entire group achieved 600 mio €.
“There is no challenge to our franchise business, the basis of our development,” stated Jean-Paul Demaugé, managing director of Jardiland Enseigne. “Our strategy is directed towards providing us with the means to function like a multiple. This will allow us to increase productivity and, above all, to gain a greater degree of responsiveness through better communication. We must have recourse to external finance if we want to maintain our rhythm of twelve new garden centres a year and accelerate our expansion outside France. And that is precisely what our new organisational structure will allow us to do.”
This restructuring is also being accompanied by changes to the company’s legal structure. Today Holding Jardiland SA controls the group’s franchise activities through the company known as Jardiland Enseigne. Jardiland Enseigne covers all central activities that were previously in the remit of Jardiland SA (buying, garden centre services and communication). Various subsidiaries have also been established: Jardiland Espagne, Jardiland Portugal, Sémaphor (the Vive le Jardin format) and Jardi-Gestion, which controls the corporate businesses. Jardiland Portugal is preparing for the opening of its first garden centre in the year 2004 or 2005.
Jean-Paul Demaugé is chief executive officer of Jardiland Enseigne.
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