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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