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It is indirectly dedicated to Tim Starkey, its leader for many of those 20 years, and whose loss is still deeply felt. Simply click on the following link to download this edition: HI News V3 No. New HBT team steps up We also take a look at the bathroom category and its emerging trends: Bunnings is placing more of its stores on the market, both here and in New Zealand. Its website is the most visited Australian site.

Building material companies, CSR, Adelaide Brighton and James Hardie report on their quarterly results. In other news, latest data seems to indicate that an increasing number of shoppers are using Amazon to buy home improvement products.

On the international retail front, Lowe's is seriously getting into the maintenance and repair market, and Home Depot is building brick-and-mortar stores again at a slower rate.

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Ace Hardware delivers a solid first quarter result despite a slight dip in same-store sales. European big box retailer, Kingfisher has see also seen its like-for-like sales slow down in its first quarter.

Innovative products from the HBT show are included in this issue along with Fiskars PowerGear[tm] garden tool range and the on-trend Reflekta round mirror. Tue, 6 Jun This is an edited version of the Bathroom feature.

To read the entire version, go to the PDF magazine: Australian's forgotten bathrooms While kitchens may still remain the "king" of home renovations, there is little doubt that bathrooms are rapidly catching up. Surveys in the US and the UK indicate that the two are coming closer to parity. Those numbers are based on home renovation businesses reporting their most common jobs. US National Association of Home Builder's Remodeling Market Index survey A UK report from MTW Research shows that spending on bathrooms has increased by GBP million over the six years between and UK homeowners are thought to have renovated somebathrooms during MTW Research For Australia, the Housing Industry Association HIA paints something of mixed picture of the future for bathrooms overall.

This will occur as new home construction slows, according to the HIA. However, the decline in new home construction will likely support an increase in renovation activity. Housing Industry Association on bathrooms Beneath the numbers. The third dimension of population ageing in Australia is one which is often overlooked and relates to their characteristics. They are quite different to earlier generations entering the retirement stage of the life cycle - economically, socially, and in their values, attitudes and their expectations.

This is because each cohort lives through quite different economic, social and cultural conditions, they have different levels of education, world experience, etc. Baby boomers will differ in a myriad of ways from the previous generation of older people.

This will also have a major impact on the nature of the care and residential arrangements which they seek, prefer and can pay for. Another one is the fence that you see here. This is not a completely new product. It has been developed on the basis on a product that was existing in France. And that was highly successful, but not democratic at all. So you will have different components: And you can assemble all of that.

One of the things we learnt from our deep customer insight, as an example, in most people who have a garden, they don't have any way to go on the site. When they have to do things in your garden they have to go through the house.

And when you are doing fencing, I promise you that going through your house with those big fencing is not easy. This one is completely disassemble, and you can put it in your car and easily go through your home with those parts.

So, this is the kind of things that we do. This is how we are going to bring some new stuff to people in every of our markets. Design dissonance occurs when a product or service sends out cognitive signals that run counter to the desired effect. A whirlpool bath left with matt black tapware sits among the urban jungle housed in an atrium. Dual sinks and round mirrors above provide a contrast to the grid design of the tiling.

The greenery of the atrium right is complemented indoors with a small flowerbed of grasses that provide a handy border to hide the loo. Fri, 2 Jun Bunnings Glynde "knocked back". It does not meet the intent of a light industry zone and it will have a significant, detrimental impact on the existing bulky-goods traders in the area. A large number of vehicles will avoid Glynburn Road and that will cause rat-running in the backstreets due to the easy access of roads.

We will continue to work with authorities to bring investment and jobs to Glynde. It's a big investment in the region and in terms of employment for local people, with our team now strong. Training is under way for our existing and new team members.

The previous Bunnings centre was bursting at the seams and the new store will make it easier than ever for customers to get what they want. Bunnings Warehouse assets have been a highly sought after investment vehicle over the past two or so years - and given the fixed rental growth of 2.

CSR managing director Rob Sindel believes residential construction markets have peaked; Adelaide Brighton says the infrastructure spending pipeline remains strong; MTD Products is making a bigger push into the robotic lawnmower business; and James Hardie posts a rise in net profit. Housing has "peaked", says CSR boss. I just can't see that happening.

Multi-residential is the one that will come off a bit quicker. Certainly the residential pipeline has got a year or two to run. We expect to be pretty busy in all of our products.

There are plenty of housing sites being developed now where construction hasn't even started. Both MTD and Robomow see tremendous opportunities to grow our brands through this merger of our products and talents. For the last 22 years we have been focused on developing innovative technologies and leading robotic mowing products. We are excited to see this investment reach its full potential in the market via MTD's leading brands and distribution.

Asia Pacific had a good year - the only bump in the road was the Philippines. More US shoppers are buying home improvement goods on Amazon; new study shows Bunnings is the most visited Australian retail website; and Ruralco's core business helps to deliver its best ever half year profit.

Amazon making inroads in home improvement. Though often seen as an Amazon-proof industry, the old-fashioned American hardware store is not untouchable. Amazon has all the same advantages in the tools and home improvement sector that it has in grocery, beauty products and health care - and we've seen plenty of evidence of those industries feeling the Amazon Effect.

As more uber-connected millennials enter home ownership, Amazon's share of this product group, like many others, will continue to grow at a disruptive rate.

Amazon understands that it's the consumer driving the company's success. The ways they are innovating new services and offerings, they are doing so with one thing in mind: The pace at which e-commerce is gaining acceptance among home improvement consumers emphasises the need to understand how consumers are utilising online and in-store shopping options, and how to make them work together.

Marketers can capture the replenishment of commodity products, like light bulbs and air filters, by offering online convenience, but there are also opportunities to benefit from consumer showrooming for bigger ticket items, like bathtubs and vanities, with the in-store experience.

The current demographic changes are driving increases in the number of people entering life stages that are important to home improvement categories, from first-time home-buyers to downsizing empty-nesters, the industry is in a prime position to help consumers today and develop new shopping habits that will last for decades to come.

Users from Australia are big consumers of foreign webshops It's a big challenge for domestic webshops to keep up with the foreign ones. The competition is hitting hard and consumers tend to find alternatives in other markets and through other e-commerce channels.

An opportunity exists for an experienced CRM Manager to join the marketing team at Techtronic Industries; USG Boral is looking for a residential account manager based in Port Melbourne; and a sales management role at CSR Bradford. Click on the logos to find out more about each role. CRM focus for TTI brands. Home Depot is opening new bricks-and-mortar stores; Lowe's is buying two companies that serve owners and managers of rental properties; Ace said Q1 same store sales fell; Reliance Worldwide is buying Holdrite to build a strong foundation in the North American new construction market; LoggerHead Tools has a legal win against Sears; and the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas has just ended for another year.

Home Depot building stores again - slowly. I want to get back to that peak. We have to just continue to do what we do. A solid macroeconomic backdrop, combined with our project expertise, drove above average performance in indoor projects.

We also continued to advance our sales to pro customers, delivering another quarter of comparable sales growth well above the company average. I'm delighted to report an 8. While revenue improved, our increase fell short of our expectations. And despite the obvious temptation, I'll resist pinning the blame on the less than favourable weather. We only sell patented products.

Because they're patented, we think we can get a value-added price, which allows us to pay more to manufacture in the US. We knew we had strong intellectual property, but we also knew this was going to be a David vs. Goliath battle and that getting to a jury trial would be difficult.

Customers say they prefer to go to a store, but it's just so complicated to get there. Bring technology into the store to help customers understand what they are about to buy. Protect yourself by exploiting your local knowledge. Make things easy for customers. Provide easy checkouts and fast returns, and make it easy for customers to find things in your store.

Make sure to provide that human connection-you win in this area, and you have an advantage no one can touch. Slower sales at Kingfisher in Q1. We are experiencing some business disruption given the volume of change, as we clear old ranges, remerchandise new ranges and continue the roll out of our unified IT platform.

However, we are on track to deliver our Year 2 strategic milestones. Early customer reaction to our new ranges is encouraging, especially in France where our new unique bathroom ranges are launching first.

The best retailers, Richer Sounds and Toolstation, continue to strike the right balance by selling quality products at reasonable prices. It's a simple formula, but that's why they consistently score well with shoppers in the Which? We are delighted that our customers have spoken highly of their experience when buying from us and are pleased to be named joint top of the survey ahead of some great names. Fiskars' PowerGear[tm] technology has evolved to improve on the pruners, tree loppers and shears.

With three times more power than traditional pruners, the PowerGear X range can help tackle tough jobs with ease. The mix of lightweight yet durable materials as well as innovative design have trimmed the weight of the PowerGear X range, providing an easy, more comfortable user experience. It is designed for a splinter-free grip and has anti-shock surface structures.

The PowerGear X bypass pruners are simple to disassemble and reassemble for maintenance. They are available in two sizes with cutting capacities of 20mm and 26mm. The PowerGear X loppers come into their own when faced with young and tough green branches. Thanks to the patented PowerGear X mechanism, users will be able to effortlessly carve through branches of up to 55mm in diameter because cutting is up to three and a half times easier compared to standard loppers, according to Fiskars.

Its PowerGear X shears have optimised tool balance, control, and improved weight distribution. They are a powerful tool when shaping, cutting and trimming bushes and hedges. Since developing the first of its kind lightweight aluminium rooftop carrier inRhino-Rack has confirmed its reputation for durable and user friendly off road vehicle products.

Constructed from aluminium and fibreglass reinforced nylon, the Pioneer range of rooftop accessories are suitable for both off-road enthusiasts and highway commuters. With a sleek and low profile design, the Pioneer Platform offers minimal wind drag and noise on the road. With a flat design and no side rails, the Pioneer Platform provides easy access to gear from all four sides. Simply slide goods on and off the roof and secure them to the bars or utilise the C-channel rail design and additional eyebolts.

The Pioneer Tradie is a solution for the transportation of ladders, construction equipment and long loads that extend beyond the base of the platform. Fully welded rails on two sides provide a rigid tie down point, with hand grips built into the design. The versatile Pioneer Tray has been built to maximise load capability and provide added security against shifting loads while driving, and has a front wind fairing to facilitate a quieter drive. It also has a fully welded, closed rail sidewall.

As a result of built in C channels running along the bars of the Pioneer range, many accessory options are available including jerry can holders, spare tyre mounts, bicycle carriers, fishing rod holders and more. The Rhino-Rack Pioneer Trays will fit an existing roof rack system as well as the Rhino-Rack low profile Backbone System.

Finished with high quality powder coating, the racks will not rust or fade, and is backed by a 5-year warranty. Which power tool company gets to own As impressive as SBD has been with its recent product developments, it is really Bosch Power Tools that has begun to show it can take advantage of the very big potential the company has, both with its stand-alone expertise and history, and through its association with the larger Bosch company, and its ongoing research into sensors. This issue also includes our regular, in-depth look at the kitchen category.

Freedom Kitchens is launching a flatpack range, IKEA has stopped advertising, while Kaboodle has refined its digital marketing approach. For the first time, we have put together a guide to the HBT Conference that started on May In terms of retailer news, Mackay-based independent hardware business, Porters has acquired four Woodman's Mitre 10 stores in Queensland. Managing director Gavan Porter Snr said the company purchased the stores located in Sarina, Marian, Proserpine and Cannonvale QLD.

Outdoor power equipment maker, Husqvarna has begun a pilot project in Stockholm, Sweden, for homeowners to access pay-per-use power tools for the garden. Featured products in this edition include sustainable wallboard from USG Boral, Krylon's new spray paint for outdoor decor, and Kwikset's Z-wave enable locks, to name a few.

Tue, 16 May This is an edited version of the story. For the full version, please go to the current issue of HI News PDF magazine: It might just surprise you. In fact, our take on TTI at the moment is that it seems that while the company's CEO, Joe Galli, is enthusiastic about more rapid future development, he's being "braked" a little by the company's investors, who don't have his appetite for innovation.

Makita, as always, has gone ahead down its path of quiet excellence. There is something very Makita-like about its launch of a compact volt cordless line of tools, making use, of course, of its standard volt battery, but with a tool body size close to that of volt tools. However, Makita is struggling with a very difficult problem: The MT Series partially answered that question inbut while parts of its range for example, the corded routers make sense, the cordless tools, in the Australian market, really do not.

HNN will be looking in more detail at both Makita and Hitachi in the next issue of HI News. The two companies have much in common, in addition to their size. Not only did it bring out some real innovations in its FLEXVolt range, but it has also gone on the acquisition path again, getting hold of the well-respected and familiar Sears Craftsman brand of tools.

Its DeWalt brand also "teased" details of network-connected tools, which appeared by a remarkable coincidence just as TTI was releasing its annual results. The teaser was largely images, with only one sentence that declared anything definitive: Tool Connect[tm] updates are coming soon; including a new app, inventory management software, and 3 new ways to connect anything on your jobsite.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming months. New product introductions and successful field conversions drove growth in the commercial channel. Strong e-commerce volumes and continued momentum from the FlexVolt launch, field growth in the US retail channel as we did overcome some modest channel inventory tightening. These teams, modelled after the incubator approaches of standout innovators and startups across Silicon Valley and elsewhere, are delivering solutions to unmet user needs and creating disruptive, industry shaping ideas.

Yes, I would just add that related to your comment is correct Nigel, we do see another USD million of incremental revenue that is included in our guidance. Jim however did discuss in his comments that we have capacity up to USD million. So, in total we have USD million in our numbers with incremental of a USD million next year so there's capacity to take on another USD million.

What tends to be in this marketplace competitors are violent and if your competitors don't have a response they tend to - they have a negative view on what you - what you're doing and how it's performing. We're very pleased with that.

But half that growth came from the core, so what it says, our core business vibrant we comped a very big quarter from last year and grew the core at the same time while allowing FlexVolt to provide the other half of the growth. Our retail execution of FlexVolt is now more than double-digits ahead of what the customer expectations were, which is fantastic. And the uptick and uptake in industrial channels is every bit as good if not better.

So if you consider those things and you look to the fact that we are loading new flexible products as we speak in this quarter and we will continue to load new introductions throughout And as Jim said, in the next several years that has been the real, the real driver behind what you do with this breakthrough innovation team. We have to continue to keep this fresh and we feel that we are quite nicely doing that.

The last point I would tell you is, while it takes time to introduce new systems and power tools, the fact that this does leave the old system behind has led to a much faster adoption than most new power tool platforms. As such, our growth in FlexVolt, the ramp in FlexVolt is 10 times faster than the ramp in brushless as an example. So we couldn't be more pleased and we are we know it's a competitive advantage and the average of five stars. The average user rating of FlexVolt is 4. So we feel great.

Well, the beautiful thing about FlexVolt is we are able to develop 20 volt tools where they're appropriate, where the max watt outperformance is appropriate. At the same time, develop 60 volt tools where the max watt outperformance is required and obviously there is a cost difference because the 60 volt tool is a more expensive proposition for the user and for us that delivers unprecedented performance, at same time the user wants the right tool for the right job, at the right cost.

So all those things come together and what you'll see over the next 36 months we'll be presenting this to Jim and team in the next few weeks and then you'll see some of it at the May 16 session, you'll see fresh introductions of both 20 volt and 60 volt tools coming within the FlexVolt range and I will tell you that the users pick up on them has been equivalent.

The user likes what they can do with FlexVolt batteries under 20 volt system but they really have also embraced the 60 volt performance. Circular saw in particular is absolutely killing it. The portable you mentioned volt, the portable products like mitre saws which are volt absolutely killing it.

So the user has embraced all those various platforms and because it gives them the performance of corded in a cordless package. So more to follow but yes, we are very, very active in development of 20, 60 and even volts going forward. It really is a market share gain mechanism that has enormous potential even at the voltage levels we are at today.

And we haven't even talked about going up the voltage curve or the power curve, which we have the capability to do as we develop this technology. And that breakthrough innovation that we're working on will have some more surprises I'm sure, positive surprises in the future.

We expect the momentum surrounding FlexVolt, which by the way did meet expectations for the quarter, will be maintained and bolstered by our commercial team's launch strategy, which has a well-designed roadmap of promotions and new FlexVolt tool and accessory SKUs hitting the shelves regularly over the next few years. The USD million makes sense to us right now based on it's too early to really know what the cannibalisation is going to be. And that's something we'll watch closely, but if the cannibalisation is not as high then there's certainly a possibility that we're somewhere between that USD million to USD million number as the year progresses, combined with some of the factors that that Jim just mentioned.

And where we are really trying to attack is at the competitor's install base. And so think of FLEXVolt as a battery system that is establishing an install base as aggressively and quickly as possible that requires DeWalt tools to operate and then think of every year a wave of new tools SKUs coming in that will enhance the substitution of corded products and the ability for us to substitute corded products in the higher voltage, higher power requirements, higher duty cycle type SKUs.

And if you think of it that way, I think it's helpful because then you will understand it really is, well there is going to be some cannibalisation of our own coated tools, it really is a market share gain mechanism that has enormous potential even at the voltage levels we are at today.

Tue, 9 May Lowe's to sell stake in Masters: As a consequence of [the] award, Woolworths will be able to conclude the proposed transaction with Home Consortium without the consent of Lowe's, once the final valuation and share transfer processes have taken place. Bunnings will attract people to the area, but how many Bunnings can you go to? Bunnings has bent over backwards to appease residents' concerns about the site.

They've been very good corporate citizens. Construction works are currently underway and progressing as planned at the new Bunnings Warehouse Devonport site. We're very conscious we're operating in a high-residential-use area so we cut down on traffic flow and noise.

People will come here and we'll continue to work with the local community. We want to be part of the community. The store is what it is. Our views haven't changed at all, to be honest. This came out of mediation. Bunnings has showed themselves to have attempted to be good neighbours. Store consolidation in Mackay. We've got fifth and six generations working in the business now and we don't want that to change. We are excited to be joining the Mitre 10 group as Australia's largest independent home improvement and hardware wholesaler to the industry; this will allow the Porters business to continue to thrive and grow for many years to come.

It's great to take over the Woodman's business, they've been a great business here in Mackay for so many years. They've decided to exit the market and we decided it was a great opportunity to take it on. It gives us a lot of strength in our buying. They the stores will all still be totally owned by the Porter family. They were primary in our consideration. Some staff at Nebo Road will transition to Porters, some will stay with the business. We've been in business here since and our family has a long association with the industry.

It's only a partial sale of some of our stores to the Porters organisation. It was an extensive negotiation. It wasn't a simple transaction because it was only part of our business. We've had a great relationship with the Melbourne team for a number of years, and are looking forward to extending the relationship further. As Australia's leading independent home improvement and hardware wholesaler to the industry, the quality of our partners is paramount.

To be able to work with not one but two leading hardware brands is a rare opportunity, and one we are very excited to be able to fulfil. We don't feel there is a future in catalogues anymore. There's too many people in that game now. We don't think it's financially viable. A forecast analyst position is available at Zenexus; a WA-based account management role at A. Pulie; and Hardings Hardware in Queensland requires a trade account manager. Please click on the company logos for more information about each role.

More acquisitions planned for Big River as it heads to the ASX feeling bullish about Australia's housing construction markets; Husqvarna sees future in garden equipment rental for consumers; Klika is bringing the Ford Power Equipment range to the Australian market exclusively; and PPG makes a third acquisition bid for Akzo Nobel. Big River confident on detached housing. People are already sharing homes and cars. To share products that are only used occasionally, like a hedge-trimmer, makes a lot of sense for some users.

Husqvarna Battery Box is proof of our commitment to explore new solutions that merge innovation and sustainability, benefitting the homeowner, the community and our distribution network. Klika's partnership with one of the world's most iconic brands is true testament to the strength of our business and represents the next step in its evolution.

We are now witnessing the merging of our local omnichannel offering between online retail and bricks and mortar, but rather than imitate our competitors by establishing physical pop-up stores, we will distribute directly via the national retail chains.

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We are already in discussions with a number of them which are eager to gain access to the Ford brand, which Australians have loved for over 91 years. The Ford power equipment range will meet the upcoming strict Australian National Clean Air Agreement standards. We were very particular during our negotiations, as stringent quality, reliability and durability requirements is paramount Folkestone next location for Bunnings UK.

We can confirm that the fifth Bunnings Warehouse pilot store will open in Folkestone. Our team in the existing Homebase store in Folkestone have been made aware and we will be shutting the doors in July. This is an exciting development for us as our pilot programme builds momentum extending the Bunnings Warehouse offer to a new area of the UK.

To be frank, we are already a little bit late to the Internet. Each offline store can typically only cover the adjoining 10kms, or 20kms, at most. Customers outside the coverage area aren't aware of the store at all.

Tmall helps us reach many more customers, particularly the internet-savvy, posts generation. Online and offline channels play their roles, respectively. We communicate and acquire customers online, while offering physical experiences offline to reinforce customers' confidence to shop.

There is no boundary between online and offline. To disrupt such a competitive market like the UK and build a community for the long term, you need to stand out by the quality of your offer, not just by the quantity of products available or the low prices advertised on the website.

Kwikset showcased five of its latest residential lock products at ISC West, a trade show for the security industry, held each year in Las Vegas. They are expected to be released in the second half of The locks are said to be among the first to market with the Z-Wave Series chipset, which offers extended wireless range and security.

Among the latest offerings, the Obsidian is a smart lock that eliminates the need for traditional keys. It will be available with standalone and connected options, allowing users to lock and unlock their front doors using the touchscreen exterior or their smartphones. The sleek touchpad of the Obsidian - just like the volcanic glass - is black and makes up nearly all of the deadbolt's exterior. The lock's all-metal interior has advanced mechanical and electronic security features.

Eliminating the keyway takes away the threat of "lock picking" and "lock bumping" attacks using specially cut keys to defeat conventional pin and tumbler locks. Kwikset's other offerings include the following: SmartCode Touchpad Electronic Deadbolt - A contemporary version of Kwikset's SmartCode five-button deadbolt, designed to integrate with select smart home systems.

Kwikset Convert Z-Wave Smart Lock Conversion Kit - Replaces the interior half of an existing lock, and brings keyless entry and home automation to consumers. The new kit will appeal to design-driven homeowners who want a smarter lock but want to maintain the style of the front door or match the current handleset, and don't want to change the existing deadbolt.

Available in brass, Venetian bronze and satin nickel. The kit can be used on Kwikset, Baldwin, Weiser and Schlage products. The inclusion of natural timber accents and elements helps to break up the swathes of cool, hard surfaces that have typically dominated bathroom design. The new Lily Vanity Collection from Highgrove Bathrooms reflects this trend by combining modern sleek design with a timber accent.

The range is crafted using a seamless white gloss polymarble inset basin and a moisture resistant, medium-tone timber veneer face. The deep drawer offers generous storage and is accompanied by push-to-open technology. Wall-mount vanity designs have recently been welcomed into bathroom design as an alternative to the heavy, weighed down vanities of the past. The Lily Vanity Collection brings the focus up off the ground and allows the flow of energy throughout the space, adding a light airy feeling to the room.

It also features metal drawer runners and door hinges. With two available vanity sizes, there is an option for most bathroom layouts - a longer vanity which is ideal for a family or master bathroom centrepiece, or a smaller vanity that can be doubled up to create a "his and her" vanity solution.

We travel to the bucolic regional town of Inverell NSW to see how it came about. Inverell H Hardware re-brand On the global stage, we take a deep dive into the results of Techtronic Industries TTI and provide a transcript of CEO Joe Galli's presentation to analysts and investors. We also look at the latest reports from international home improvement retailers, Kingfisher in the UK and US-based Home Depot and Lowe's.

Kingfisher's results will be in two parts. Local big box retailer, Bunnings continues its expansion both in Australia and the UK. A Melbourne-made bin caddy is just one of the products featured in this issue, along with the Mirka dust-free sanding system which is new to the Australian market.

Thu, 20 Apr The following is an extract from the transcript of an address the CEO of Techtronic Industries TTIJoe Galli, gave to investment analysts on the release of TTI's results for To read the complete transcript, please click on the link below, which will download the edition of HI News which includes this article: TTI results presentation - HI News Vol.

One thing that HNN's visit to Inverell, New South Wales NSW for the re-branding of Inverell Building Supplies as an Hardware and Building Traders HBT "H" branded hardware store firmly brought home to us was the isolation of some rural regions. After much scrolling around Google Maps, and rattling of printouts of train and bus timetables, we ended up doing what probably most business travellers do - paying Rex Airways more than you might expect for a ride in a twin-propeller airplane which, fortunately, remained a twin-propeller airplane, at least for the duration of that flight.

Yet, as it turned out, it was certainly worth it. Not just because Inverell is a lovely town well deserving of a visit for any reason, and the rebranded store - now Inverell H Hardware - is a good store, and that the owners, Leigh and Erin Muggleton, are one of those interesting, fun couples you meet in the hardware retail industry.

That mattered, but what also showed up was a sense of what the future might really hold for regional areas and hardware. It's a future where a sense of history, the community memory and community ties continue to matter, and where, rather than inhibiting change and adaptation, they enable it, helping to promote new growth, and better prospects.

Not, of course, that this is all a story of "plain sailing". As with almost all independent hardware retailers, the Muggleton's story is one of survival as well, getting through an event that almost certainly should have terminated their business, but ended up strengthening it instead. That's important for many reasons, not least because the store carries a staff of 16 floor reps, many of them under 30 years old.

Apparently I'm the only fella that John Reece who was state manager of BBC had taken back. You could go to work in a different industry but if you went to the opposition that was treason. That was the word he used.

He heard I wasn't happy [working at Bunnings] so he rang me and said "come back to see me". I spent 30 minutes in this sterile office, the table had to be 12ft long. He sat there and the whole time he spoke in a very quiet whisper so I had to lean forward.

John told me succinctly, but not nastily, why he doesn't take people back. Jason O'Hagan, who was state trade manager and is now the managing director of Weathertex is also sitting there.

He said, "What, do you want to come back? It was the most incredible interview that I had in my life. I thought, what can I do in Inverell?

Because we wanted to come back. Then someone said, "Why don't you start a trade hardware? Funny how he came good when we started! We started in about September, 14 and-a-half years ago [end of ], and we didn't have a shop to sell stuff. There was just a bit of furniture in the corner. When I came in and looked, my wife said, I thought you are starting a hardware store, not a flipping warehouse! Apparently the space was always here, it was the furniture place in town and it sold out to someone else.

They let us rent it and I thought "this is too far out of town". Inverell is funny in that from the Main Street, even for a slow person, it could take less than two minutes to get here, and this is considered a long way to come.

I told my wife it was going to be trade, and you might not need [a lot of fitout], but within two-and-a-half years [the business] went through the roof and we needed more space. At the time, we put in an extension of 8m x 30m at the back, and that's where we are up to.

People drive 30km to come into town, but once they come they know they can park, and there is someone here who can differentiate from a hex bolt and a cup head bolt. Like all things, we've had the good and bad. We had one builder who was a good friend that was buying from us.

His word was his bond. But he rang me one day and said he was in a dark place, and he said, "I'll let you know soon". In this town everybody knows if you change your shoes, and someone said did you hear that [the builder] had gone broke?

I said "You're kidding! I could go somewhere and get a decent job and just pay it off. Yes, that can level you for some time but I am very thankful that we are still here and still going. So you can either trip your lip and carry on about that or keep going. At first, I just sat in the chair and thought, what do you do? I called the bank manager and I couldn't believe it. The bank covered the debt within a week.

You would not believe some of the builders. And we'll just get that back whenever without interest. You know who helped us? That a fellow at Orange who is on the board, David Kent. He rang me and asked me how I was going. It was such a bse buy nse short stock term thing that he reached out, and I think I can london stock exchange barclays bank Tim [Starkey] who we obviously we miss dearly.

That day, he rang and said you've got to have an "office Nazi". I am a softy although I've tightened a little bit but I didn't want to become a mongrel which is hard. We had to have Robin, our business partner who took over and since then its happy days, as they say. We started at the end of January [] and we wanted it done by end of February but the amount of rain that we've had has made it really difficult.

It's virtually done now with some paint on arrows windows 7 forex widget need to be done outside. The timeframe has been about six weeks but it's actually been about three months, to be fair.

It's definitely getting there. It was really itunes stock market app to do even though we dragged our feet a bit but with the help of our suppliers, 17 of them really helped. You've got - just to name a few - Koala Nails, Fletchers, Macsim, Gunnersen's, Bluescope Lysaght, Soudal and at the 12th hour Romak came in.

Haymes really looked after us. But you wouldn't do it unless you think you could, and there are a lot of other benefits with the companies involved. The merchandising is fantastic. It's really bought an awareness, and obviously I think that will myer perth easter trading hours 2014 keep growing. We had one fellow who came in and said "You're hardware store? I've never come in because I didn't see any signs or anything. He said, "Do you know what made me come in because I didn't see any signs painted?

The only thing is that every day, we've always had the wheelbarrows out there.

So he didn't pick up on the colour. Now we've got hardware in the name; I wasn't sure if it was a good move when we called it Inverell Building Supplies.

We agonised over whether we should have hardware and timber in it. But we thought how long do you make the name? I'm glad now that we have H Hardware and Inverell in small because that is still our identity, as building suppliers. We are not going to get people who just want to buy one plant, and I don't want to do that.

I don't want trading binary options strategies and tactics abe cofnas pdf compete with Bunnings or the Plants Plus down the road. We have 15, to 16, different items; we hit over a million maplestory how to make mesos 2016 in stock] the other day and it scared the heck out of me.

We've been selling heaters almost from the beginning we had mainly the Eureka range from Melbourne. You try to sell to keep Australian made stuff but at the end of the day you have to play the game to keep up and a lot of the Chinese stuff is seriously good and getting better. I'm not against them, you just have to go the flow. This is a retail business and now it's working well.

The paint section is pretty good. We've just got to get our tradesmen be more prolific but the retail side is not bad. We're getting there, our rep keeps knocking on doors, so we are trying hard. It's unbelievable how much [Bunnings] helps us. Every now and again, paula cerdeira enforex they are pain with gross profit.

And I'll give you a great example. The other day, an older couple came in and said do you have 10mm ply? Bunnings said they'll have it up there but we said no sorry we haven't. But the boys - I've got the best crew in Australia but I'm a bit biased - they said we've got 9mm ply.

The customers said, that would be fantastic. And you know what was on Bunnings' shelves - 9mm ply, and they didn't know it. I'm not knocking the people there but they just don't have people who know, the staff who have product knowledge.

I say to my guys, try not to say no - unless they solusi trading forex stf blog spot.com for a Mercedes-Benz! And, with confidence, we could say no then. Bunnings to open a store in Lilydale in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs; Dandenong store staff relocate to ex-Masters store in Dandenong South VIC ; Bunnings has ruled out sourcing timber fromhectares of forest the Tasmanian Government plans to open to logging; a new Bunnings store for Gatton in the Lockyer Valley QLD ; construction on East Albury store could start in mid; a Bunnings store is planned for Westgate, New Zealand; a site in Jolimont WA has been purchased by Bunnings; the Palmerston warehouse in the Indicator 60 seconds to enter the market in binary options Territory will be replaced; and Bunnings puts Warwick QLD up for sale.

Lilydale gets its own Bunnings. Lilydale needs to start filling that centre. It will hopefully bring activity into Lilydale and liven up the place. Following necessary conversion and reformatting works, all team members from the current Bunnings Warehouse Dandenong, will relocate to the new store.

We have been consistent in stating publicly that we welcome an outcome that supports the timber industry, local communities and the environment. Our Tasmanian suppliers have advised us that who earned the binary options brokers will not be sourcing our timber from outside their existing coupes. The property is 7. A start date for construction is not known as there is no requirement for a developer to provide this information to council.

The timing and details of the project have not been finalised at this stage. The new warehouse is expected to create approximately 70 new jobs once open, as well as continued employment for team members transferring over from the existing warehouse and trade centre.

Construction is due to commence in mid The new store is expected to open early Plans for the development of a new store are in the early stages, and will be subject to development approval.

If approved, it is expected that the new site would replace the current Homebase Subiaco store There were a few commercial players involved in the enquiring and bidding. And there was quite a crowd; maybe 30 to 35 people. This includes the fitout and stock for the new store. It will replace the existing Palmerston Warehouse on the corner of Roystonea and University Avenues. The property offers excellent frontage in an established commercial precinct with principal centre zoning.

Positioned in Warwick's CBD the property is in close proximity to other key retail and business premises Not only does this asset represent international exchange rate for iraqi dinar great rental return from Australia's leading hardware retailer, there is also fantastic future upside with a prime land component of sqm over 10 lots combined with a sqm of building which will provide a number of future alternatives for redevelopment.

Adelaide Brighton Cement seeks a marketing communications manager; experienced sales representative required at Austech; and an opportunity to join Sydney Tools' sales team.

Billy Goat distribution in Australia. Echo is all about power, always has been. But now they wanted to own the 'power' in outdoor power equipment. So, we needed to demonstrate the power of the tools, but we didn't want to get into a comparison war with other tool brands.

Because that's just boring. Instead, we showed how Echo tools out-power some of the most powerful elements on earth. We want this audience to take us seriously. So, we made a departure from airport TSA and trolls to change how the brand is viewed in the category. Previous campaigns targeted that weekend warrior landscape, fixing up their backyards.

We still want to target homeowners but we want to elevate the brand for professionals to take notice. Security is a growth industry and technological advancements are being made all the time.

Our staff are used to seeing smart technology built into the products we sell, from the humble car key right up to home automation, commercial and automotive security. In order to remain competitive and retain staff, the onus was on us as managers to provide modern software which is flexible, intuitive and instinctive rather than proprietary, complex strategic default put option unwieldy.

We knew we needed streamlined processes in terms of supply and distribution in order to continue to grow We churn out huge volumes of orders and have to make sure we supply customers as efficiently as possible without introducing time delays into the supply chain. With Epicor ERP, staff will be able to make money with retailmenot more sophisticated demand forecasting, and also maintain the integrity of our stock and manage our national supply chain even more effectively.

The implementation of Epicor ERP will streamline functions such as sales and order management, warehouse management, inventory optimisation and forecasting. This will permit them to focus on bringing new technologies to market and training and servicing their customer base, growing even further. We continue to identify areas of opportunity which will drive us forward and help reduce our industry's dependence on fossil fuels.

This new vision for will propel us further along that path, while enabling us to make a measurable contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Albans, Hertfordshire; Wolseley will maintain its name in the UK but will be known as Ferguson in the rest of the world; and French startup company, Travauxlib matches companies and customers planning renovations.

Bunnings opens its second UK store. Our team members have worked really hard to prepare the store for opening and we are looking forward to helping customers and the community with their home and garden projects.

We have already helped Sandridge School by tidying up an unused area of land by repainting flower beds and creating vegetable patches so the children can set up a gardening club. And we look forward to doing more with groups in the local area in the future.

Each drawer features auto-return, which snaps the drawers bollinger bands cloud within the final inches of operation. Lined with a liquid and grease resistant EVA 2. The open side space is capped with an 8mm anti-slip EVA mat, to ensure no sharp or awkwardly shaped tools damage the physical unit during movement.

The 11 drawers are supported by 45mm standard ball bearing slides and formed with rolled over drawer walls for added strength and rigidity. Mirka provides dust-free sanding systems.

Based in Finland, the brand develops and manufactures advanced sanding and polishing machines. Mirka's dust-free solutions are achievable through its innovative Abranet, a plastic-like net with thousands of holes providing effective dust extraction. Constructed with a dense network of polyamide fabric threads onto which the abrasive fx options call spread is bonded, this open weave net structure means no dust particle is more than 0.

The use of Abranet also eliminates any clogging or dust build-up between the sanding disc and surface, providing a smoother finish more quickly and long-lasting sanding capacity. Designed to be connected to a commercial vacuum cleaner such as the Mirka Dust Extractor, sanding with Abranet produces times less dust compared to sanding with traditional paper abrasives, and it can last up to five times longer.

This edition of HI News explores what the Metcash-owned Independent Hardware Group IHG might do with its retail brands and the potential breakaway groups that could come out of its plans. Just click on the following link to download this edition: Is Metcash-IHG on the right track?

Bunnings invited some of Australia's top retail investment analysts to see its first store in the UK. We take a look at the big box retailer's presentation to them. There is an extensive overview of major paint companies, PPG Industries, AkzoNobel, Sherwin-Williams and Valspar.

In addition, we analyse the latest company results from Adelaide Brighton, Boral, Fletcher Building, GWA, Reece and Methven. The best independent stores operating in are singled out and rewarded and a Queensland-based Mitre bettertrades stock scam store prepares to battle Bunnings.

In other news, the Master Builders Association appoints its first female CEO and tradies increasingly choose make lots of money on runescape over cash. The latest outdoor power equipment from DeWalt and Greenworks Tools are also highlighted in this issue. Thu, 30 Mar Concern over what exactly Metcash's Independent Hardware Group IHG plans to do with its recently acquired Home Timber and Hardware Group HTH continues to grow.

HNN has received reports of what appears to be two sub-groups suka duka dalam forex to break away from IHG in the near future - though as this is rumour-based it could be one group described in two different ways. One set of rumours identifies a group that has a primary focus schwab options trading cost the DIY market, and the other group would seem to have a heavy trade focus.

There is little doubt that, if we have become aware of one or two such groups, there are likely another two or three under development across Australia as well. HNN hasn't been able to confirm any rumours by actually garch models indian stock market volatility directly to members of these groups, so we can only speculate about the reasons these groups have to break away.

One possibility is that IHG, as HNN and others have suggested, may be planning to either eliminate the Home branding for home improvement stores, or at the very least technical analysis-forex trading with candlestick and pattern.pdf heavily de-emphasise the brand.

In a recent article in the Australian Financial Review AFRthe CEO of IHG formerly of Mitre 10Mark Laidlaw, is reported as saying that Metcash has yet to decide what it will do with way for merchants to make money roulette a good HTH Home brand, but it should have some idea by the end of the current calendar year.

A Bunnings store in Brisbane will look like no other; Bunnings makes a move into 11 former Masters sites; the Berri store is being sold; Bunnings Horsham got an expansion; expressions of interest are called for Bunnings in South Mackay; Bunnings sets up temporary store in Taren Point; and construction has begun trading binary options on italy Bunnings Doncaster.

Four-level Bunnings in Brisbane. The design of Bunnings Warehouse at Newstead relates to the fine-grain and sawtooth form typical of the historic Newstead wool stores and industrial buildings Pedestrian linkages along the northern facade will be activated by shipping-container style cafes us stock market completes round trip will adjoin a future residential development.

Bunnings is a destination retailer because shoppers are willing to take the effort to come in not just for products, but for the experience. It's for families on the weekend, wanting to have a shopping experience and a sausage sizzle.

This store is interestingly placed, as it's right in the middle of the city, and there's a massive amount of high density and high-income living nearby. There's also not really any big hardware chain close to where they're putting it; they're tapping into the area's growth. I think they'll look at other areas in Sydney and Melbourne where there's a high proportion of the population in one area, with high disposable income. Metcash is the only other player, and they have a different offer with smaller stores aligned to tradespeople.

A big global retailer could have a look at the market and enter, and there's no reason why Lowe's wouldn't have another look at the market.

There is a hardware store just down the road, we don't need this Bunnings at all. We don't like the council decision but Bunnings has experience and size and we are too small to take on its bureaucracy and lawyers in something that could get very emotionally draining.

We've also got to assess how much interest there is in these stores from other hardware players. We are still looking at it but we are conscious there are only a small number of new stores and there Bunnings are in the best place to buy them but they've really earned their way into that. We ask that you [suppliers] plan ahead to ensure you have sufficient stock and representative coverage to support the current store network as well as the The continued lack of retail investment opportunities such as this is also driving investors to compete for assets in regional locations.

Furthermore, the consistent performance and revenue growth of Bunnings has been a key attraction for private and institutional investors, along with the depreciation tax benefits associated with the new assets.

There is evidence that buyers are gaining more confidence in the performance of key clearing agency in stock market locations, stemming from increased government expenditure in these regions, along with improved living conditions mostly related to affordability driving population growth.

Bunnings investments are always highly sought after, for a number of reasons. The net lease structure and fixed rental increases are favourable; along with the strength of the fundamental real estate given the strategic site allocations from Bunnings.

All our product ranges will expand including a large, brand new lighting display. We've been part of the Horsham community for more than four years and we're looking forward to bringing an binary options timeslot better store with the latest home improvement and outdoor living products backed by the best service.

Team members continue to support forex trading demo account login number of community groups, working together to assist in local projects including repairs made to Birchip Playgroup's playground and providing DIY workshops at Kurrajong Lodge.

It's the sort of asset that can appeal to people that are looking for more secure investments, often people who are plus, that just want to put something into a blue chip covenant, effectively like a corporate bond. It's set and forget, because you've got fixed annual uplift, so you're not having to worry about how the turnover of the store is performing, whereas a lot of supermarkets are based on percentage of are etf options section 1256 contracts index above a certain threshold.

Bunnings pretty much do everything, including even the way they define the premises - it's the whole entire land parcel rather than just a pocket of the building. I guess it's taken stock market elementary that uncertainty of competitive threat, after the store closures.

Obviously they dominated while Masters was genesis trading system there, but now that's been closed, it'd be a fairly brave competitor that would come in now and try to take on Bunnings.

The store will operate under the Bunnings brand [but] will be in effect more like a traditional small hardware store. There will be hardware, tools, paint, fixings, and plumbing, lighting, and garden care type products.

The key differences [between the existing and temporary stores] are likely to be a minimal timber offer, no garden centre, and there will be a very small range of bagged goods We are currently in the process of appointing a builder for the development. The timing of the project has not been finalised at this stage and we will continue to update the local community as soon as timings are known Featuring batteries that automatically change voltage when the user changes tools, DeWalt's outdoor power equipment OPE lineup will incorporate the new FlexVolt 60V Max 3.

The FlexVolt system is backwards compatible with most of the existing DeWalt 20V Max system, which now includes over products. This means that the FlexVolt batteries easiest way to earn extra money both the DeWalt 60V Max outdoor power equipment as well as DeWalt 20V Max power tools.

The 60V Max chainsaw DCCSX1 is equipped with a brushless motor delivering gas performance. The low kickback inch Oregon r bar and chain has auto-oiling the revolutionary beginning of the american stock market continuous lubrication and a tool-free tensioning system for quick bar and chain adjustments.

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For professional landscapers, the DeWalt 40V Max system offers a battery solution for day-long, heavy-duty outdoor use. The Greenworks Pro 60V battery platform lies at the heart of its new cordless outdoor power equipment OPE range. It utilises lithium-ion technology in combination with brushless electric motors to provide power and torque, while reducing noise and vibration, and getting rid of emissions. President of Greenworks Tools, Chris Allen said: Each tool in the Greenworks Pro 60V line is engineered to improve the user experience.

Push button start technology eliminates pull cords in every tool across the platform, while the CFM Turbo Boost button ig forex peace army added power on-demand in the backpack blower.

Patented Smart Cut technology in the mower maximises run-time by keeping the blade speed at an optimal level based on the thickness of the turf We aim to have the right tool for every consumer and by adding the 60V equipment to our 24, 40 and 80V consumer lines, and 82V commercial-grade equipment, we're one step closer to that goal. Prime Mover Workwear - founded by Australian entrepreneur, Brett Birkill and his wife Wandy as a small business above a fruit shop in Melbourne before becoming the largest privately owned workwear company in Australia - has been acquired by Irish firm, Portwest Limited, in a deal worth over overview of stock market in bangladesh. Portwest is a family owned business and manufactures safety clothing, personal protective equipment PPEfootwear and other protective gear.

It employs over staff how much money does a chiropractor make in california distributes to over countries worldwide. According to its most recent accounts, Portwest booked sales of more than million euros AUD million during the financial year to the end of February and reported a profit x3 terran conflict how to get money just over The acquisition of Prime Mover Workwear is a significant geographical expansion and marks the start of the biggest privately owned workwear brand in South East Asia.

Portwest CEO, Harry Hughes said: Wide spread intertrade recruitment co. ltd been wanting to expand into Australasia for some time and have spent a lot of time looking for the best company in the region.

We're confident we've found it and can't wait to see what the future holds for us in the territory. It's one of those industries where because it's not high fashion it often doesn't get a lot of press.

But it touches pretty much every business around the country whether it's just a few hi-vis vests on the door or a full warehouse through to the general sector. The retail side, which services the end consumer business, is booming and has shifted a little bit in recent times by bookmyforex vadodara heavily into the construction side after housing booms, especially in Melbourne and Sydney As part of its expansion plans, Portwest has strategically positioned warehousing across five major global locations: USA, Dubai, UK, Poland and Ireland.

The company has made considerable investment into factories in Bangladesh and there are plans for a manufacturing facility in Myanmar, where production will commence later this year. Portwest owns a number of smaller businesses in Ireland not related to workwear, and there was a gentleman from Difference between employee stock options warrants visiting one in Westport last year.

One of the owners of Portwest happened to be in that store at the same time, and was talking to a different man about expanding their workwear business into Australia. The Australian guy overheard the conversation and mentioned he knew some people in the workwear industry in Australia, and that was our first connection.

Portwest wasn't actively flying to Australia and knocking on doors looking for connections, they had Australia firmly in their sistema automatizado forex plan, but they didn't know where to start. That conversation really kicked it off. We had other groups look at the business, but we started this business from scratch, so we wanted to pass it on to someone who could develop it and take it to the next stage.

There have been a lot of brands bought by big public companies with the stock market before the 1929 crash that just don't fit, like retail business buying wholesale brands. We wanted the right fit and we wanted the right people. If we had sold to one of the other offers, Prime Mover would not have succeeded.

Time for some independent stores to take a bow and receive awards; Bunnings moving into Loganholme Mitre 10 territory; and Home Timber and Hardware in Busselton WA is shutting its doors. Top stores named and rewarded. Winning the award is a credit to the tremendous people we have working here. It's a small group earnest money agreement real estate six but we work together and all have a genuine passion for helping locals.

The great culture we have plays a pivotal role in the success of our business. At the end of the day, it's our customers who are the ultimate judge of what we do, and we're very thankful to the extended Tenterfield community for supporting us over many years. We have people coming into the shop who have marlin 30-30 lever action recoil pad coming in for twenty years, they come to know the faces and the expertise of the people who work here and rely on their advice.

I think it's the culture of the organisation that is important. It is what we hear consistently, that the organisation is well known for having such a strong culture and that's why people keep coming back. This is where Paul has been fantastic, he certainly has been a great team leader and together with general manager Noelene Wilcox we have a great leadership team here.

It is kenya commercial bank currency exchange rate honour to be recognised for the hard work our team have put into growing and improving our business. We honestly had no idea that we would be heading up to the stage. We have a great team who work well together and do whatever needs to be done.

We also have the family support to help out with the kids. Being able to service Taree and the surrounding communities over many years has been a privilege.

Without the great staff we have at both our Wingham and Taree stores, these kind best 3d printing stocks to buy awards are not possible. It has worked hard to ensure its diversified business model covers all rural markets in the region They continually demonstrate a deep understanding of the needs of the local community.

It's a real concern. We already have three Bunnings located within a 10km radium of us. A store of that size in this area will have big impacts for us and most of the other tenants in the centre. We've already seen so many small businesses struggle to survive when the larger corporates open in their backyard.

I'm not against competition - it's a good wrigley gum stock market - but a business such as Bunnings has a big leg up and when there's already market saturation. We are excited by what Bunnings can offer our community, not only in terms of retail but potential jobs, learning and social enterprise.

This tenancy is an opportunity for us to provide local residents access to the latest home improvement and outdoor living products and the best service. My father spent two or three years looking for land where he could build a bigger store and ended up buying all the houses along here.

He built the building and we had one very successful year trading out of here before Bunnings opened and it has not been easy since. Unfortunately it is the evolution of the industry.

It broke dad's heart, 30 years he has been doing this, I have been in the business for more than 10 years and it has not been an easy thing. In this UK market we believe strongly we need to be metal forex blogspot We're working on that how to bid on binary options brokers make money now.

We have a holding website for Bunnings UK, our next step is to really lift that and make sure it has strong pre-shop engagement for the UK. It should be transactional within 18 months, that's what I'm personally aiming for. We're not in a christmas gifts for stockbrokers but we want to get it right.

I don't pretend for one moment that outdoor living is as significant in the UK as in Australia but we have had more success with barbecue and garden furniture than we originally expected" over the "dark months" of the winter. Our focus over the last 20 years australian usd exchange rate been on providing innovative and international products for independent retailers.

By returning to a Sunday show opening, we are responding to demands from this key fx binary option signals providers of our visitors. The show will feature various zones and plans are moving ahead towards a special new forum for the trade. The sharp decline in the value of sterling since June currency converter kenyan shillings created cost pressures on imported goods and materials, and the expectations for secondary housing market transactions and growth in the repair, maintenance and improvement market have weakened.

Pressure on consumer discretionary spending from rising inflation could impact secondary housing transactions in the second half of Overall prospects for the current year remain favourable with continued growth in Ireland and the Netherlands expected to support an increase in profit in the year ahead. Ace Hardware passes the USD1 billion mark; BuildDirect's supply chain platform is suitable for heavyweight goods; and virtual reality is available in a Lowe's store.

Record revenues, profit for Ace. To give you an idea of the success of our retail strategy, we have seen increases in same-store-sales for seven consecutive years, increases in new store growth for five consecutive years technical analysis forex ppt increases in customer transactions for four etoro binary options signals years.

The system for shipping heavyweight products has always been complex and overly fragmented, which is why it has taken BuildDirect more than 15 years to completely reinvent it. With minimal investment, no long-term contracts, and a turn-key infrastructure, BuildDirect's Gateway offers tremendous value, convenience and savings.

As a former builder, I know the pressure home improvement professionals are under to deliver superior quality on time for a great price, and so much of that process is completely beyond their control.

We want to shift that power, putting it back into the builder's hands, so that they can truly delight homeowners. Virtual reality just happens to be the best way to give people what they want, when they want it.

This is meant to be available to the entire country and Canada, not just those on the bleeding, cutting edge of tech. The latest issue of HI News is forex signals in nigeria the new leadership team at Bunnings and its half year results.

We also look at whether the big box retailer has raised its prices compared to 12 months ago and drop into its Geelong VIC store. The new Bunnings Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that building is slowing down but renovations are not. A round up of Bunnings store developments around the country seems to highlight the fact that not all communities are in favour of a warehouse store in their backyard. In Queensland, the owner of Craig's Highfields Hardware speaks out against the changes to retail hours in that state.

Agribusiness Ruralco also gets the go-ahead to acquire TP Jones in Tasmania. Stihl's latest product releases and the innovative, hybrid padlock BenjiLock that uses fingerprints are profiled in this issue. Tue, 28 Feb Earnings before how to make money in mma pro fighter and interest EBIT rose more sharply, up by The managing director MD for Wesfarmers, Richard Goyder stated in a press release that the high level of earnings was largely due to "very strong results reported for Bunnings Australia and New Zealand, Kmart and Officeworks".

He added that "The continued momentum in these businesses was particularly pleasing and reflects the strong market positions they have each established". Mr Goyder also called out the performance of Wesfarmers' non-retail divisions. Earnings for the Industrials division were significantly above the prior corresponding trading options with bollinger bands and the dual cci, with Resources benefitting from higher coal prices and strong production in the second quarter.

The Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers business delivered a strong result for the half, primarily driven by higher chemicals earnings taka income by internet (earn money online) growth in natural gas retailing, while earnings for Industrial and Safety also improved, benefitting from lower costs following "Fit for How to get free starcoins on msp cheats restructuring activities.

The arrangements with John Gillam, he and I'll sit down now with Rob later in the year and determine whether they continue or not.

So there's no definitive timeframe around that It's really clear that our competitive landscape is dynamic and active. I don't think we've yet been able to clearly understand all the impacts from the Masters' liquidation but what is clear, however, is our continued strong focus on investing both our offer, in terms of network development and value creation for our customers.

We were pleased with the store-on-store sales growth of 6. Good work is being done in product innovation, range enhancements and ongoing improvements in service and services. These are providing us with ongoing positive customer engagement trends. All of these activities, of course, span across our consumer and commercial customers. We're pleased with the progress across the agenda and more is make money welding on the side here in the year ahead.

I also thought it was worth noting just how strong our commercial performance continues to be. The opportunities in widening our addressable markets through range innovation, leveraging our digital platforms and customer engagement, is concepts of stock exchange markets in uganda solid growth opportunities and coupling this with network redevelopment, is ensuring we're able to constantly improve and innovate our offer.

Proof of pilot is obviously a critical step to further investment and we will copper on stock market our time to get this right. The first of these stores open on February 2 as part of the plan to have at least four pilot stores opened by the end of June. We have had great customer feedback and the early results disadvantages of buying shares in a public company pleasing.

We've talked about our long term ambitions; we've talked about the three-phase plan and we're still in phase one. This is a period of consolidation and trial. As we reset Homebase, we're working hard to establish market leading Bunnings Warehouse stores and the success of these stores, it is an absolute precursor to any further investment in the roll-out of our network development plan. Clearly that has to be a concern to you or probably given that you're [Mr Goyder] going to be leaving in six months and John Gillam's going to be leaving in six months I'd like to know whose concern that's going to be.

That's probably a cheeky shot. Can you give a bit of colour as to why that is? Because the full year earnings of Homebase was AUD40 million profit. How -- where did that loss come from? That sort of like came out of the blue for me. Look, we previously advised that as we rebase the sales we'd lose about GBP million turnover on the old business. We also did foreshadow that this acquisition -- during the acquisition and transition there was going to be a lot of disruption as we fundamentally repositioned the business We've always said, early part will be significant transitional costs and swings.

But a AUD50 million loss in the first half when you've done one store and you've got another to go and in a market that's really slowing and in a lot of trouble -- I mean Treasury Wines' result yesterday, they highlighted the UK as in real trouble. What's the risk that this loss just doesn't blow out of control? So transaction growth's immaterial really. We're just resetting the cost base at the moment. We won't finish the transitional services agreement until August.

They're quite a drag on earnings at the moment and we've got to re-set up -- as you know set up new IT systems, new delivery platform and we're rebasing the costs around our call centre right at the very moment. So this is a pretty big transition that we're going through. Sorry, just one other thing on Homebase.

There is a seasonality to it so we would expect the half we're in now as [Mr Davis] best discount brokerage for options to in his comments going through the slides, going into spring and summer we'd expect that to be a stronger performing season than the half we've just been in.

I just wanted to explore a bit further the line of questioning that David raised forex trader salary in india on Bunnings UK if I could.

I cake decorating supplies preston lancashire, my take foreign currency equal to indian rupees it is that as you put through the EDLP changes in the first half, it obviously caused a trading profit drop.

I would have assumed that any of the stock liquidation would have been provisioned for in the acquisition accounting, so I can't see how that would have actually exacerbated the loss. As you move into the second half, it looks to me actually like a lot of the concession revenue is still there, based on the GBP million of revenue in the first half.

So I would have thought even with the seasonal swing revenue falls in the second half, as the concessions come out and then you annualize the EDLP changes. So we're going to be left with a business at the end of fiscal that could be losing GBP50 million or more before obviously you start to put the Bunning stores in or see how they trade.

But I'd just be interested in your take on the drivers and how that's likely to evolve through the period and where we may be incorrect or too bearish on those sort of assumptions and outlook for the Homebase side of the business please. There's a lot of seasonality as Richard has touched on. We're going through some significant changes as we went through the first quarter of this year.

And obviously losing Habitat and Argos sales had a pretty big impact on the overall business A lot of the products sold in the previous business were very seasonal themselves. So as we moved into November and December, without the furniture and other products to offset those losses in sales, it did have a bigger impact. Can you confirm that was actually incurred in the half for the ANZ business? Because if that is the case then it will just effectively imply that excluding property sales your margins increased by about 50 basis points.

Can you comment on that? As I said in my comments the really pleasing thing for us in the half was also the ability to drive some very strong cost disciplines and productivity improvements as well. I understand you don't manage the business for margin, but surely that must be pushing towards the upper end of what you guys want to achieve in that business.

And how do you think about that long term in terms of the trade-off in investment and price versus margin? Margin, we manage it for customer value and that's what we keep focusing on. So that's driving the strategic agenda to create our value, grow the market and innovate on range and other things we're focused on. And that just becomes an outcome of good work. I think it's always one of the big misconceptions that one player is going to dominate the market one way or another.

We compete every day with a range of players, traditional and online and the market's competitive. So we just keep driving that agenda as hard as we can. In terms of individual product categories, they have without doubt delivered a tool category or carale of note. A barn stormer of a department with more power and hand tools than I've ever seen under one roof. Total and utter category credibility. When the manager opens the store on a Monday morning, he'll be finding random middle aged males fast asleep in this department with their heads resting on angle grinders and big smiles on their faces.

Mon, 27 Feb Makita's business development manager for its power garden unit must focus on large business; managing a territory for E. Oates in South Australia; and a senior strategic retail role at Winning Appliances.

A local council in inner western Sydney has rebuffed Bunnings' advances; four ex-Masters sites in WA will turn into Bunnings stores; Mitre 10 store owner applies to join fight against a Bunnings store in Panorama SA ; Bunnings Rockhampton staff are moving into former Masters site; Bunnings asks for a review of the Tura Beach site in NSW; a smaller format Bunnings store will open in Dalby QLD ; Bunnings Shepparton scheduled to open mid; and Bunnings ads in New Zealand in court dispute.

Rozelle says no to Bunnings A proposed Bunnings store in the inner Sydney suburb of Rozelle has been rejected by Inner West Council because of "multiple" flaws in planning documents, reports the Inner West Courier.

Opening Hours

In a letter sent to developers, the council raised 11 objections to the proposal including increased local traffic.

The council also found the development plans did not assess noise impacts on nearby homes, failed to use correct flood analysis modelling, and lacked waste management plans. Other objections raised by the council included a proposed loading dock and ramp that doesn't adequately service the development, impacts on heritage conservation and a "signification breach of the zoned floor space ratio.

The proposal - which was lodged to the council in October - was developed by site owner John Lethlean in an agreement with Bunnings. The council said it would defend its position if Mr Lethlean appeals the council's decision in the Land and Environment Court. The proposal was also met with opposition from existing independent retailers on the peninsula, including the Hardware Store which operates metres from the site.

Bunnings general manager of property Andrew Marks said the company would continue to work with Mr Lethlean and the council to "resolve the matters raised". Bunnings' micro-warehouse in Balmain - HNN Bunnings re-brands ex-Masters sites in WA. The conversion of these sites into Bunnings Warehouses is pending the Home Consortium agreement with Woolworths Limited which is subject to the consent of Lowe's Companies, Inc. I am however disappointed that Mitcham Council would formally oppose our involvement, given we are ratepayers who lodged a representation in respect of Bunnings original application.

The community spoke very loudly about the lack of transparency, and it seems that Bunnings has been given a private ear to the council process. The only time the community finds out about the next step is when it is almost too late. Following the reformatting works, our intention is to relocate our existing Rockhampton warehouse, including all current Bunnings team members We do note that the Home Consortium agreement with Woolworths Limited is subject to the consent of Lowe's Companies, Inc.

We also intend to ensure our existing location is re-purposed, which will hopefully support bulky goods retailers entering the region and creating new jobs in Rockhampton. We're very excited to get under way on this Bunnings warehouse, especially considering it is so close to our head office in Toowoomba.

We will continue to update the Dalby community as development progresses ahead. On-site, the construction of structural steel for the warehouse and nursery is almost complete with roof sheeting underway.

Erection of the concrete wall panels is nearing completion. We disagree with the Commerce Commission's view of our lowest prices policy and will defend our highly competitive price guarantee. We remain absolutely committed to creating more value for New Zealand consumers and believe in the right of all businesses to compete on price. Craig's Highfields Hardware owner speaks out against changes to QLD's revised retail opening hours; Juncken Home Timber and Hardware is shutting its doors after the owners sell the property; Porters in Mackay QLD restructures for growth; and Combined Rural Traders names its top business.

Changes to QLD retail hours affects independents. Whatever advantage we had on them would go with these changes. There're 12 of our Home Hardware group stores that have closed over 18 months and we're getting squeezed out. We would feel obligated to open earlier to compete The council and both levels of government need to offer incentives. There's nothing out there for us.

They should make it a fairer playing field for us. We employ the local kids here. If we're not around, who's going to employ them? We do work experience with kids and Bunnings doesn't offer that. Bunnings won't go and run a local canteen or coach the junior sporting clubs.

The decision to close has certainly not been an easy one, but as major shareholders are wishing to scale back their business interests, we really have no alternative. This exit has been planned for a number of years. The whole idea is that I'm doing all the operations for the business unit - the branches that Porters owns, whether it be the building supplies, the trade supplies, the plumbing, the glass manufacturing all the rest of it - those managers are reporting to me from an operational viewpoint.

It's all about growing those businesses further and focusing more on them and driving them. We're not going to go out and employ people tomorrow, but obviously we want to grow that as the market allows us to. One of the reasons I was attracted to the role was from the length and longevity of this business - years old. That's a pleasing thing - that they've gone obviously through the ups and downs of business cycles, but plus also, because of what they're trying to do moving forward as a business.

Dalby Rural Supplies is an exceptional business It has impressed with their wide-ranging technical expertise, their constant drive to improve the business and their deep understanding of the needs of the local community. Being recognised for the way we have serviced the Dalby region over many years is humbling, but it has been our privilege to work with the people here. Our focus has always been to be experts on our region, the advice we give is specific to the unique challenges of farming here.

The extensive range of services and resources we can provide as a CRT business means we can help our clients with everything from rural merchandise to insurance, but we never stop learning. Bunnings' entry into UK becomes real. The format is the same. But don't think for a moment we've duplicated the range from Australia. We will have a much bigger range of bird feed than in Australia.

We'll have four stacks of shelves full of it - that is a big deal. We've done a lot of research And we also believe that innovation leads to people wanting to do [DIY] things. If you are in this market you don't just compete with other home improvement retailers That's a lifestyle choice that people have got to make based on income and we are making these lifestyle choices easier and better for a customer. We're getting to those customers by getting them excited by the choice of products.

We've made the decision to be a home improvement and garden retailer and have got rid of the duvets, cushions and coffee cups. We're going back to the core of home improvement and garden. We don't want to sell the soft side. There are plenty of other retailers, like Dunelm, Ikea and Next, doing a good job of that.

Our very first store [in Australia] had a children's playground and a cafe People who have had their first child, bought their first home and want to improve their lifestyle. The most obvious thing is to have products on the shelf and to come and pick them up. I think click and collect is borne from retailers not being reliable or out of stock. It's costing us more but we thought it was a fairer way of distinguishing between staff. Yeah, tradesmen are a lot cheaper here They still buy home improvement [products].

That's a market that is very strong here. We think there's a real opportunity to grow in the UK. The housing stock in this country is reasonably old compared with what we are used to in Australia and the British are keen gardeners. We think the large amount of players is an opportunity.

We hope to do better but this is a long-term investment. I plan to be here between three and five years. We're a truly multichannel business - we still have people on the end of telephones because some of the things our customers are doing are quite complex. Everyone else is moving much quicker even if we're good in this sector.

The unfortunate truth is all those consumers are being trained by what 'good' looks like - there's Amazon's relentless delivery achievement, Argos with its same-day delivery at a ridiculously low price, and even carriers like DPD are doing a great job with precise technology. It would be dead easy if we thought we had to service just our consumers in our shops - we wouldn't do anything.

We've got one process driving more than one fulfilment option. You need to take time looking at what you have, rather than looking at drones - you need to utilise your existing assets.

It's not just about speed, but precision - time is money. It would be great if we could sustain charging GBP9. The trial store will be just over 3,sq ft in size, and will provide customers with an offer focused on home decor, repair and maintenance, with a suite of supporting services.

Bizarrely activity has been better since June 23 than it was before. We had a particularly strong finish to the year. The foregone conclusion is it's going to be negative, but I don't know enough to say that. We've no idea what Brexit actually means. The Australasian team has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years and I look forward to continuing that success well into the future.

Dean joins us with impressive credentials, a highly successful history of general management and great experience in leading teams in his previous roles, including heading up sales and marketing departments. Decor is an iconic brand, with a strong history of innovation and is a perfect strategic fit for Marlin Home, which will build a strong portfolio of Australian brands for both inside and outside the home.

The Product Directory powered by the Vesta Central Data Distribution Platform will revolutionise how HBT suppliers share and distribute information and content with HBT members. We are very excited about this opportunity to showcase the platform and develop it for other industries outside of the hardware industry. HBT will effectively be showcasing the group's strength like never before.

The Vesta platform will show members just how much they can purchase through our group. We see this building volume for our suppliers and truly supporting a healthy ecosystem for the group, its members and suppliers. Listed agribusiness, Ruralco, has won the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC approval to buy rural merchandise retailer, TP Jones. Tasmanian-based TP Jones is a Combined Rural Traders CRT member with three other retail outlets at Longford, Campbell Town, and Latrobe.

It will be absorbed into the Ruralco's Roberts livestock agency and merchandising network. The ACCC was required to scrutinise the deal, announced in November, because both Tasmanian businesses sell products such as fertiliser, agricultural chemicals, animal health products, and farm merchandise. Roberts, a wholly-owned Ruralco subsidiary with 14 outlets in Tasmania, has operations spanning merchandise retailing, wool and livestock marketing, real estate, irrigation and financial services.

ACCC Commissioner, Roger Featherston, said while Roberts and TP Jones directly competed in all of the affected local areas, farmers in those areas had other market alternatives. The ACCC had spoken to farmers, wholesale buying groups, and manufacturers of rural merchandise.

In Campbell Town where Roberts and TP Jones are the only two with retail outlets, the ACCC concluded farmers would likely be able to buy rural merchandise from other retailers located near Launceston. Farmers could also arrange to have merchandise delivered to their farms. We've identified specific geographic gaps in our rural services footprint and aligned growth initiatives to fill these.

Investment in water business has potential to reduce the cyclical impact of rainfall and drought events on earnings, allowing Ruralco to capture a greater share of wallet in a higher margin category.

It represents a significant competitive advantage between us and our peers. The Tesla battery for homes will sold at TreeHouse; more deliveries to pros from The Home Depot; Ace retailers will benefit from additional resources at Lowe's Canada; and a number of Home Depot stores are using renewable energy.

Tesla battery selling through TreeHouse. We want to show off the Tesla power packs as the beating heart of TreeHouse, and we'll be selling a residential version. The days of a retail warehouse full of products are over.

I think people want a place where they can go dream and consult and create a wish list. We're not your mom's big box store. There are million homes in America, and we eventually want to be within striking distance of all of them. If I can get the average pro to come three more times a year, that's a billion dollars in revenue.

The Ace brand has a strong reputation for quality products and services. The purpose of this transition is to drive growth throughout the Ace Canada dealer network. Integrating these operations in the Lowe's Canada facilities and systems is a pre-requisite to offering dealers a dedicated website with a platform for online sales and allowing them to take advantage of an omni-channel strategy.

BenjiLock is not a traditional padlock. A key can be used to open it but it's a lock that can also be opened using one's fingerprint. It was unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas.

BenjiLock was developed by the Los Angeles-based company of the same name, which was founded in by CEO Robbie Cabral. The lock features a 7-pin cylinder and will come with a built-in rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, charging cable and set of keys when it ships later this year at USD Consumers will be able to choose between sky white, jet black, stainless steel, copper and brass SKUs.

There have been similar products on the market, Mr Cabral conceded. Tapplock is another padlock using fingerprint sensors. But competing devices don't tend to have a tough, stainless steel body, he said.

BenjiLock also has a boron alloy shackle. Rival products also don't tend to provide the same "hybrid" solution for unlocking as BenjiLock. Mr Cabral notes that a key can come in handy when the fingerprint sensor isn't working for some reason. BenjiLock was named a CES Innovation Awards honouree in the smart home category. The Innovation Awards program is run by CES producer the Consumer Technology Association CTA. But it's open to debate whether BenjiLock is a true smart-home product.

The device is clearly designed to be used just about anywhere - from the home to the office to school to the gym. However smart-home products are also typically controlled by a smartphone or tablet app, or via a computer. Tapplock, in comparison, works in conjunction with a mobile app that can be used to grant access to family and friends and control the date and time the lock can be accessed. Unlike BenjiLock, the Canadian makers of that device turned to crowdfunding to help reach the market.

Tapplock was successfully funded March 12 after raising USD, AUD, via Indiegogo. The BenjiLock fingerprint sensor's ambient LED light is what makes the device smart once the user records his or her scan, according to Mr Cabral. Although the smart functionality is minimal, he said, his goal is to "build a relationship with the consumer of security," adding later versions of the device will "include apps and much more.

The latest professional models from Stihl will come with a host of enhancements. These units boast a simplified three-step start procedure enabled by the semi-automatic choke lever, saving users time on the job and reducing the chance of flooding the engine. Each product's vertical pleated paper air filter allows for better filtration, extended replacement intervals and long service life.

In addition, the redesigned and lighter gearbox on the pole pruners and extended-reach hedge trimmers shift weight to the powerhead of the unit for balance and maneuverability. It can help users work for longer periods with less fatigue. The introduction of these new professional products is part of one of the largest product launches in company history.

Other Stihl products to be introduced in include nine battery products, as part of the new Stihl Lightning Battery System[tm] and nine additional gas-powered models, featuring a line of Stihl pressure washers. The retail industry in The latest data on hardware retail sales from the Australian Bureau of Statistics undergoes scrutiny. Although most mainstream media outlets have seen the closure of Masters Home Improvement as casting a shadow over hardware sales in December, it's likely the weather also had an effect.

Bunnings opens its first UK trial store in St Albans. In Australia, the big box retailer is moving into Devonport TAS. It is taking over an ex-Masters site in Mount Gambier SA and undergoing negotiations for another former Masters location in Gregory Hills NSW. We take a brief look at GUD Group's half yearly results, and AMES' purchase of the Hills Home Living brands that includes the iconic Hills Hoist. This edition features updates on the Grafton Group, Screwfix and Travis Perkins in the UK, and as well as US retailers, The Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Products from EGO outdoor equipment, Fiskars, Lufkin, Rover lawnmowers and Kwikset are also highlighted in this issue. Sat, 11 Feb Forecasting has always been something of a difficult task.

Generally speaking, forecasts either look at the immediate past and draw a direct line through recent events to predict the future, or they concentrate on one or two emerging forces that will take place, and use those as a basis for prediction. We've divided the forecast into these two parts, beginning with some direct consequences of onthen detailing a more theoretical outlook on how retail in evolving. From to The mature corporation has readily at hand the means for controlling the prices at which it sells as well as the those at which it buys.

Similarly, it has means for managing what the consumer buys at the prices which it controls. Wed, 8 Feb Mainstream media has recently seized on the Australian Bureau of Statistics sales numbers for hardware retail to suggest that the closing down sale of Woolworths' Masters Home Improvement big box stores has had an impact on performance during December In fact, a number of articles have suggested that this has pulled down the numbers for Australian retail sales overall.

The declining number that the media point to is that for seasonally adjusted sales. For overall Australian retail this fell by 0. For household goods retailing, the seasonally adjusted estimate fell by 2. In that category by far the highest seasonally adjusted fall was for hardware, which was down 6. This might seem quite discouraging, but a very different tale is told by the trend estimate statistics. The trend estimate indicates that retail turnover in Australia rose by 0.

The trend estimate for household goods also increased by 0. So, what does all this mean? We need to start by understanding what the difference is between seasonally adjusted and trend estimate numbers.

The thinking behind both of these statistics is to help to provide statistical numbers which enable a direct comparison between two consecutive time periods usually months. We all know that if you were to just compare the original retail sales numbers for the consecutive months of, say, August and September in any one year, you could mistakenly conclude that the industry had undergone a big surge -- as September is always going to be more active than August.

By using moving averages in a clever mathematical way, it is possible for statisticians to work out what the seasonal component of the increase between August and September would be. When they remove or adjust for that component, they provide numbers for August and September that can be bettered compared, and will provide a forecast estimate as to whether demand is increasing or falling. However, there are even more factors that distort statistics when comparing months. Some months have five Saturdays in them, others only have four.

Some months have 31 days in them, others only 30, or 28, or even Holidays such as Easter move around, and so forth. The trend estimate takes factors such as these into account, and attempts to deliver statistics that have as little of this kind of "noise" as possible. Given all that, what should you do when confronted with statistics where the seasonally adjusted and the trend estimate numbers seem to be at odds?

In general, the first thing to look at, particularly for hardware statistics, is what has made up "the season", especially the weather. Seasonal adjustment relies on specific weather patterns, and if these have shifted, that might be something that is contributing to the difference. Mean temperatures were above average across most of the eastern half of Australia as well as through an area extending from southern South Australia through to northwest Western Australia.

In New South Wales it was the second-warmest December on record behind December2. Above-average temperatures were also observed across most of South Australia, Victoria, southern and eastern Tasmania, and in parts of the Top End of the northern Territory and northwest Western Australia. South Australia had its wettest December on record; Western Australia and the Northern Territory had their third-wettest December on record; and all other States, apart from Queensland and Victoria, had above average December rainfall.

The first Bunnings UK store opened its doors to the general public following a "pre-opening team member event" for around store employees and their families and friends on 2 February This is some four months after the original October deadline Bunnings had announced.

Richard Goyder, the managing director of Bunnings' corporate owner, Wesfarmers, is predictably enthusiastic about the store, telling Fairfax Media that he thought the new store "looks terrific". Bunnings plans to open at least four of these "test bed" stores before even considering a broader rollout. This follows the same pattern Bunnings followed when introducing its first warehouse stores in Australia, and gives the retailer the chance to fine-tune its offerings.

A second Bunnings Warehouse store in Hatfield Road, St. Albans will open in April and we are on track to have at least four pilots up and running by the summer. We are laying strong foundations on which to build the Bunnings Warehouse business in the UK and Ireland for generations to come. The St Albans store will be instantly recognisable as a Bunnings to anyone who has ever shopped with us. We're bringing the widest range of home improvement and garden products to the UK market.

And as we've said all along, ranges will be tailored for the UK market. Conversion will depend on how the first handful go - when we're happy with how they go well move relatively quickly.

It will take some time because there are stores, but if we need to make tweaks we'll do that before we do a fast rollout. He has stepped down from all the boards - it was all part of the plan - but he is still on the Bunnings Council and advisory group.

Both businesses are working together and he is still heavily involved in the UK. The prospect of a Bunnings store in Panorama SA has also attracted support from the local mayor. Bunnings moving into Devonport. We can confirm we have now entered into an agreement with the land owner. We can confirm a development application has been lodged and approved for the conversion of the Masters Mount Gambier site into a Bunnings Warehouse. Our intention for Mount Gambier is to relocate our existing store, including all current Bunnings team members.

Hopefully this will support bulky goods retailers entering the region and create new jobs in Mount Gambier. The new store will continue to actively contribute to and participate in the local community through hands-on support of local community groups and hosting the famous Bunnings sausage sizzles. This partnership with Bunnings ensures that the customers of Mount Gambier Marketplace will continue to have access to their groceries, home improvement, general merchandise, fashion and dining needs in one convenient location.

Bunnings will continue to work collaboratively with the relevant authorities throughout the application process and is looking forward to bringing investment and jobs to Panorama. If we say no to everything then we become a council known to be anti-development and anti-progressive. It's time for Mitcham to move out of this retrograde position. We were very concerned with the rear access that we would have tradies and all these people short-cutting through the area. We discussed that with Bunnings and they decided to block it and we were happy with that.

If someone else were to go there, there would be no certainty that would happen. We can confirm that we have agreed conditional terms with the landlord at the former Masters Gregory Hills site. If the conditions are satisfied, there will be necessary conversion works that need to be undertaken to reformat the store ahead of Bunnings moving into the site.

Our intentions are to open a new store, employing approximately team members. Hills is selling its gardening and laundry products business, Hills Home Living HHL to AMES Australasia, the local subsidiary of US-based Griffon Corporation. It has sold the right to make and sell Hills Hoist clotheslines after concluding it could not make money from the iconic Australian household product.

AMES will acquire tooling equipment and trademarks not used by Hills and has undertaken to invest in the HHL brand that extends across laundry products, ironing boards, garden sprayers, watering systems, as well as clotheslines. Hills chief executive David Lenz said AMES with its established export markets, local infrastructure and retail distribution networks, offered the best future for HHL. AMES has indicated that it intends to revitalise HHL's product portfolio as well as introduce a wide range of solution-focused products on the home and garden sectors.

Simon Hupfeld, AMES Australasia chief executive, said: We consider this a tremendous development for our business, and have great confidence that the many customers, employees and suppliers of Hills will enjoy the benefits of this new ownership structure. As now part of our global AMES team, Hills will be very well positioned to serve its customers better through our established capabilities in design, marketing, customer service, procurement and distribution.

The Hills of today is a value added distributor of technology products and services and the company is focused on delivering security and surveillance solutions, audio visual, IT, communications and health solutions.

It is important that we remain focused on our core business activities. Even with an improved second quarter for the HBT business, this has not made up for the underperformance of the HBT business in the first quarter of FY17 as outlined at our AGM in November.

US private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR has agreed to buy Hitachi's power tools unit, Hitachi Koki for about USD1. Hitachi Koki will be delisted and will eventually drop the Hitachi brand. CEO of KKR Japan, Hiro Hirano said: Hitachi Koki is well-positioned for further organic and inorganic growth given the high quality of its products, its high-calibre team and the attractive environment for power tools through cordless and digital trends.

Looking ahead, we are fully committed to leveraging our global network and resources to provide full support to Hitachi Koki in pursuing its growth strategy. The USD million AUD1. The company will pay USD million AUD million at closing and USD million AUD million after three years. It will also make annual payments on new Craftsman sales for 15 years.

The Craftsman line includes power tools such as saws, drills and hand tools such as wrenches and screwdrivers as well as lawn mowers, barbecue grills and other gardening equipment. The acquisition gives the company an entry into the lawn and garden equipment market, estimated by Stanley to be worth USD12 billion AUD15 billion.

In a statement, Stanley CEO James Loree said his company will increase the availability of Craftsman products through other retailers brick and mortar and online as well as industrial partners.

The agreement allows Stanley to increase Craftsman sales in these untapped channels. Craftsman's appeal might be slightly stronger with older customers who remember it from decades ago, when the Sears catalogue's role was similar to that of e-commerce today, Mr Loree said.

But he estimated the brand could add about USD million AUD million of revenue growth per year for the next 10 years, in part by making Craftsman products more widely available. The world has changed, but Craftsman is still an incredibly strong brand. We already manufactured many products cost-effectively in the US and in some cases, we've been able to bring manufacturing back to the US at a lower cost than producing overseas. The Dulux dog expresses his thoughts in the latest campaign; Arlec is supplying Bunnings UK stores with the help of CEVA Logistics; and MiTek expands into technologies for the DIY sector.

Dulux dog in starring role. We wanted to tell our consumers that in the future, you'll know why it's worth using Dulux; and we knew we had to do it in an emotional way. Consumers love the Dulux dog, so we thought what better way to gain a powerful, emotional connection to the brand than to make him the star of the campaign. It's with great responsibility and pride that we have given the Dulux dog a personality, and a bigger and more important role in the communications mix. He's seen it all and there's no one better placed to explain why Dulux is worth it.

We are delighted to have partnered with CEVA for our entry into the UK market. The Mendlesham facility is ideally located to manage both our inbound air and ocean product lines. CEVA's ability to provide storage solutions combined with their experience in managing ranges of Far East imported products means that our entry into this new market couldn't have gone more smoothly.

CEVA's implementation of this supply chain solution demonstrates our commitment to new customers in an area where we have considerable experience and expertise. Arlec's product range is constantly developing and we have put in place a range of flexible options to ensure we can meet their future development. DIY has established long-term relationships with some of the nation's largest and most-respected retailers and building products manufacturers.

The combination of MiTek's software and capital resources, along with DIY's comprehensive web-based software, will provide unparalleled technology tools that will enhance our customers' value proposition. The email also said the company's financial position remained strong and the affected staff would receive full entitlements and additional assistance as well. There does appear to be a lot of positive sentiment about the local economy.

People are hiring and hopefully this has not come as a complete shock, because I know a lot of people have been looking at it and questioning whether it would stay open or not. There is a lot of choice for hardware on the North-West Coast and obviously what they were providing was not meeting with what the market wanted. Yes it is a blow because we don't like anybody losing their jobs in our city.

Grafton Group delivers improved performance; a new distribution centre and more stores for Screwfix; and Travis Perkins has been involved in a Circular Building project. Grafton's multiple markets boost revenues. The group finished the year on a more positive note and saw the benefit during of its exposure to multiple markets. The decision to construct a warehouse near Lichfield was taken to ensure we have the logistics infrastructure to support the needs of our expanding business.

Adding one store per week to our network means we need to make sure we have the stock distribution in place to enable our busy trade customers to get what they want, when they need it from the nearest Screwfix, so they can get back to the job as quickly as possible.

The project provided Travis Perkins with a unique opportunity to understand what distribution challenges exist in a circular economy for example, in routine building materials like timber cladding and flooring joists. We supplied the new material and, once the event had come to a close, the house was disassembled and we took all the materials back. This was followed by an examination of the condition, its presentation and value before determining possible reuse or recovery options.

Distributors have a crucial role to play in the circular economy and it's clear that strong collaborative linkages with solid supply chain support are essentials to a circular economy model.

Fiskars' IsoCore[tm] Shock Control System hammers have a patented technology that captures the kinetic energy and vibration of every strike, reducing the impact felt by the user up to four times compared to a traditional hammer.

The range features two claw hammers, one framing hammer, a club hammer, a sledge hammer, a maul and a mattock that are all endowed with the vibration control system.

The claw hammers are ideal to remove and pull out nails easily and allow for more precision work. The framing hammers are longer, and are designed to be used for longer periods of time. The longer shafts allows more swing and therefore efficiency. Each hammer head is fitted with magnetic technology that holds the first nail in place, and eradicates the age old problem of whacking a finger on the first hit.

The club, sledge and maul use the IsoCore system to reduce the vibration that comes from the shock of the strike in the joints. A common problem amongst users of heavy duty demolition hammers is that inaccurate strikes weaken the shaft, so Fiskars has reinforced the demolition head with an overstrike protection to strengthen the shaft.

It has added a sloped head to push debris away from the user and towards the sides after each hit.