The Gardman Group has announced the appointment of Bernard Shannon to the role of sales director.
Mr Shannon will join the board at Gardman this month, and will immediately begin driving an ambitious commercial plan with the aim of seeing the Lincolnshire-based supplier further develop strong partnerships with customers.

He said: "It's a very exciting time to be joining Gardman. The past year has been incredibly challenging for most in the industry, and Gardman has risen to the challenge. I'm really looking forward to working with the team to build an industry-leading programme that will help our retail partners trade their way profitably through the season."

Mr Shannon was previously managing director at Hozelock, where he was responsible for the business through both the independent garden centres and multiple retail sectors. Prior to his role at Hozelock, he spent several years as sales director at Energizer Inc, holding responsibility for the Energizer batteries and Wilkinson Sword brands.

Mr Shannon will report to the Gardman Group chairman Jonathan Halford, who said: "I am delighted to be able to appoint Bernard to drive our ambitious sales strategy and I look forward to working with him.

"He brings a wealth of highly relevant experience and he already knows our customers which gives him a huge head start. With the support of the dedicated sales team at Gardman, I am confident that Bernard will successfully drive our plans forward."