Nursery World - Asquith bucks trend on doom and gloom

Asquith Nurseries, the third largest nursery group in the UK and Ireland, made 8.2 million during the 2008/09 financial year.

Although occupancy has fallen slightly, the group saved thousands bysetting up its own 'in-house recruitment centre'. The group, which runs86 nurseries, said it had performed well despite the economicdownturn.

Asquith said its earnings for the first quarter of this financial year(March to May 2009) were 2.73m before interest, tax, depreciationand amortisation, or EBITDA, which was up by 8.3 per cent on the sameperiod last year. In 2005/06 the nursery group made total earnings of2.4m, the year before new management took over the business.

Last May the group spent 150,000 on recruitment agency fees,compared to just 675 for May this year.

Managing director Andy Morris said, 'We are delighted with our results.We have continued to perform above expectations despite the tougheconomic climate and this is largely due to our attitude towardsquality. We continue to invest in developing well-trained,highly-motivated staff and nurseries that are properly maintained andresourced.'

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