Target status: ✓
Upload date: 15/07/2019
Last updated on: 14/12/2020
Who are the important people in the company?
• Suttons Seeds Limited
Correspondence Address: Torbay Business Park, Woodview Road, Paignton, Devon, England, TQ4 7NG
Governing Law: English
Legal Form: Limited
Registration Number: 09258861
Nature of Control:
Ownership of shares – 75% or more
Ownership of voting rights – 75% or more
Right to appoint and remove directors
• Dawn Sylvester Assoc CIPD
Date of birth: November 14
Occupation: HR Manager
• Burgess Iain, Secretary & Director
Correspondence address: 3rd Floor Cumberland House, Cumberland Place, Southampton, Hampshire, England, SO15 2BG
Date of birth: January 1972
Nationality: British
Country of residence: Wales
Occupation: Director
• Rees Gary John Michael
Correspondence address: 3rd Floor Cumberland House, Cumberland Place, Southampton, Hampshire, England, SO15 2BG
Date of birth: November 1964
Nationality: British
Country of residence: Wales
Occupation: Director
What is the structure of the company?
The company is a parent company that is also a subsidiary included in the consolidated financial statements of its immediate parent undertaking established under the law of an EEA state.
• Statement of Capital (Share Capital)
Class of Shares: ORDINARY
Currency: GBP
Number Allotted: 120000
Aggregate nominal value: 30000
Amount paid per share: 0.25
Amount unpaid per share: 0
• Statement of Capital (Total)
Currency: GBP
Total Number of shares: 120000
Total Aggregate nominal value: 30000
• Full Details of Shareholders
Shareholding 1: 120000 ORDINARY Shares held as at the date of this return
Name: SUTTONS SEEDS LTD
What is the prospect’s strategy and ambitions?
Strategy
• Seeds and plants are supplied on a wholesale basis to retail outlets and fulfilment services are provided to charities, particularly in the run-up to Christmas
• Supplying quality products at competitive prices
• Introducing new and innovative quality products to the market
• Continuous investment in personnel, systems and infrastructure
• Acquisition of the Present Finder Business, the Organic catalogue and the National Bee Supplies
Ambitions
• The company is passionately committed to continually improving the sustainability of their business and helping customers to improve their own gardens and localities.
• The company is committed to growing the business in an ethical and sustainable manner
• To share their passion for horticulture and the natural world with their customers.
Who are the prospect's customers?
Suttons Consumer Products serves customers in the United Kingdom.
Customers profile:
• Private individuals through their websites, their catalogues, the newly acquired Present Finder Business and others directly
• Retail outlets
• Charities
Customer Reviews on Trustpilot
1. December, 2020
Ordering straight forward. Delivery quick. Seed packets as ordered and in good condition on arrival.
2. December, 2020
Incomplete order
Ordered goods in August for November delivery
Only two of the three trays ordered arrived. Customer service were helpful but Sutton’s now sold out so will refund the one missing tray
Very disappointed as really needed all three for prised display
3. Jun 23, 2019
Perfect Internet Shopping – Great Quality
Don’t have a bad thing to say about Sutton’s Seeds, their website, their product range, information presentation, or service delivery. Special praise goes to the quality of their products I have purchased. I am a regular visitor and customer of the site and I can’t praise it highly enough. When I deal with Sutton’s, I am always kept informed about the transaction and my purchases always arrive in great condition bang on the delivery schedule. It is now second nature to go to the website and make a purchase without once having to consider how long I will have to wait for delivery and it will arrive with no further input from me. Dealing with Sutton’s is how internet shopping should be.
4. Jun 19, 2019
Disappointed!
I placed an order on the 30th May for some Sweet Pea plug plants, I chased the order after 2 weeks to ask about delivery and was told that they would be delivered within 2 weeks. I sent a further email today request an actual date to be told that the plants were below standard and wouldn’t be sent! If I hadn’t chased they still wouldn’t have contacted or refunded me!
What does the prospect consider important for its customers?
To provide customers expert advice whenever they need it through their staff, customer service and their new platform “The Garden Planner” which includes garden planning tools, email reminders, guides and journals.
Who are the prospect's staff?
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the group and company during 2019, amounted to 198 (2018: 210).
Administration: 50
Warehouse and logistics: 89
Sales and support staff: 59
The Directors committed to the Torbay Development Agency in 2015.
Employee Reviews on Indeed.com
1. Warehouse Operative (Former Employee) – Paignton – 20 September 2020
Suttons is a mail order despatch warehouse, with machine operators and telesales, lets be honest, we dont make a difference in the world and the tasks are monotonous, but thats what you should expect when applying.
The jobs are very simple, but the rest of the time at work is poor.
Overtime is virtually non-existant, in fact in quiet times you are encouraged to leave early, losing pay.
In busy times you will be expected to do extra hours, but not for pay, you only get time owing.
New starters are on seasonal or casual contracts, you can be let go with no warning or reason and there have been colleagues on casual contracts for 2 years, never feeling job security.
As for the staff, although they are decent people there is a lack of community, most staff work with headphones in, so there is almost zero social interaction.
The management care exclusively about profit, shop floor staff are viewed as replaceable cogs, zero respect.
Pros
Easy work, good location.
Cons
Dreadful overtime policy, poor management.
2. Despatch Operative (Former Employee) – Paignton, Devon – 20 November 2018
“Took years to get a permanent job when my face finally fitted. Jobs given to people not on merit for sure. Many examples of this. Manager told me I wasn’t cut out to supervise and also kept refusing holiday requests even though nobody else was off. Ended up supervising on minimum wage and doing an ok job and then made redundant based on an utterly ridiculous skills matrix. We all know that if you have not been there very long you get made redundant first. Impossible to get any training and development and growth.”
Pros
Car park
Cons
Very poor wages and management
3. Warehouse Operative (Current Employee) – Paignton, Devon – 24 February 2019
“Working here since August 2017. Brilliant company with a variety of jobs to be done from picking/packing, tidying up plants for despatch. No day is ever the same and always throws up something different and enjoyable. Management team are excellent and try to accommodate you wherever they can. Overall if you want a job with variety and great people this is the company to go for.”
Pros
Excellent staff and great pay for my age
4. Warehouse Operative (Former Employee) – Paignton, Devon – 7 April 2019
“Sutton seeds varied in jobs at the warehouse from packing seeds to large garden sundries. I learned about the different varieties of fruit and vegetables available. The management were encouraging and helpful and the colleagues were approachable and helpful. The hardest part of the job was getting to know the whereabouts of plants at the trial grounds and the most enjoyable was the diversity of the job itself from sending off just a packet of seeds to packaging of trees for dispatch.”
Pros
Nice colleagues, diversity of job and large canteen
Cons
unsure of longevity of job
What are the prospect’s unique selling points (USPs)?
- They have “a reputation for quality and service that is second to none, and a remarkable history that goes back over two hundred years”.
- Royal Warrant holder
- Competitive prices
Published articles and awards
Awards
2020:
They have won the ‘Plant of the Year’ vote, run by QVC’s Michael Perry
– in honour of the annual RHS Chelsea award that was cancelled due to pandemic.
2019:
• Plant of the Year award at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
• Also, awarded BBC Gardeners’ World New Plant Introduction
Who are the prospect’s competitors?
Competitors List (alphabetical order)
Criterion: Industry subcategory, Company Size and Product