JOHNSON
Commercial nursery Johnsons of Whixley made £8m in sales between October 2018 and March 2019.

Yorkshire firm invests in Brexit contingencies following 20 per cent sales uplift

North Yorkshire commercial nursery Johnsons of Whixley is investing in new machinery and growing space following a successful six months of trading.

Johnsons, which has sites in Whixley, Cattal and Roecliffe, made £8m in sales between October and March, an increase of £1.37m on the same period of the previous year.

The uplift in sales has allowed the firm to invest £70k in new machinery in anticipation of a reduced workforce post-Brexit.

Managing director Graham Richardson explained: “At the moment, European workers make up around one third of our nursery workforce. And while we do not envisage an exodus as a result of Brexit, we have to be prepared.”

The firm has also earmarked £100k for additional growing space to decrease its reliance on plant imports.

Graham continued: “We don’t know what’s on the horizon and as we are reliant on the economic and supply chain, Brexit has the potential to be catastrophic.

“It makes long-term planning very difficult but one thing we can do is to invest in innovative new systems that will help us to retain the current buoyancy.”

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