Steel joint venture details revealed
ONE OF the region’s largest Christmas tree farms is seeing an additional spike in sales as workers from Europe put up their festive decorations much later on in the season.
Billingley Christmas Tree Farm in Barnsley says it is now seeing another sales spike just before Christmas as it is customary in certain parts of Europe to put up a tree a week before December 25.
Andrew Stenton, who runs the farm, said that orders would normally dwindle in the final week up to Christmas but that they now have an “emerging market”.
He added: “Once English people have got their’s it tails off but now in the last week we’re getting a spike from Eastern European people coming to get their Christmas trees.”
Billingley, which has also provided trees for BBC’s
Christmas special, has sold around 15,000 Christmas trees this year. As well as having its own plantation, the business also buys in trees from other UK farms.
“We’re planting around 10,000 trees every year annually,” says Mr Stenton, adding that in January the farm will begin taking stock of how many plants it will need.
Billingley won an award for Best Norway Spruce Grower in the UK this year. An accolade which has also boosted sales says Mr Stenton, who runs the business with his wife Sally.
“That’s really helped us,” he said, “so we’re having nice growth this year.”
Billingley, which has also in the past provided trees for
Christmas specials, has a retail site at New Hall Farm. Mr Stenton says they look to provide a festive experience for customers coming to collect their trees with a Santa’s grotto.
The business is hoping to expand and has its sights set on launching another retail offering.
Online is also increasingly playing a role in boosting sales at Billingley.
Mr Stenton said: “That’s grown the business because its helping us reach out to areas where we can’t get to with our retail site.
“It’s a specialist area though. You’ve got to react quickly. We’ve got to pack trees quickly and get them over to the couriers to ensure freshness.”
Billingley was established as a Christmas farm in 2001 in an attempt at farm diversification.
Mr Stenton said: “We started the business just after the foot and mouth crisis. We had pedigree cattle and we couldn’t turn them into sales so we started selling a few Christmas trees.”
The move paid off and now cattle is “just a hobby”, says Mr Stenton.
Thyssenkrupp could halve its stake in a planned European steel joint venture with Tata Steel if the owners decide to list it on the stock market within the first six years, its personnel chief Oliver Burkhard has said.
Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel will each own 50 per cent of the venture and will hold equal shares for the first six years. In case of a listing, their joint ownership must not fall below 50.1 per cent – or 25.05 per cent each.