Grainger is upbeat - but still no green shoots yet
Feb 11 2009 By Graeme King, The Journal
Grainger has made job cuts in recent months, to bring down its overheads. The company shed 10 staff before its results in late November and has since shed a further 20 from its 270-strong workforce. Only a handful of these are said to have gone from the 100-strong head office team in the Citygate building on St James’ Boulevard.
Andrew Cunningham, finance director of Grainger, said: "The early part of the financial year, from October to December, was very, very tough. Then sales picked up in late December and into January.
"Broadly, across the country, there has been an increase in activity levels. You do sometimes get a little bit of a flurry in January, when husbands and wives have been able to sit down over Christmas and talk about selling the house.
"Now, people are looking at how house prices have fallen, and the cost of mortgages has come down."
John Dickinson, analyst at Brewer Dolphin, said Grainger seemed to be successfully managing its business in "extremely difficult" market conditions. Another analyst praised Grainger for doing "relatively well" in a difficult market.
Meanwhile, Grainger said former managing director Stephen Dickinson, 74, is retiring from the board.
Mr Dickinson is credited with playing a major part in making Grainger the scale of business it is today and floated the company on the stock exchange in the mid 1980's. His uncle, Roy Dickinson, was one of the firm’s founders.
