Dobbies, the garden centre chain at the centre of a battle between Tesco and Sir Tom Hunter, issued a profit warning yesterday, just days after the supermarket won control.

Dobbies said that poor weather over the summer months meant that it was unlikely to meet internal sales targets as “sales of garden furniture, plants and core gardening products have fallen short of our expectations”.

The company said that pretax profits for the year to October 31 would fall below market predictions, which stand at about £6.2 million.

Richard Ratner, an analyst at Seymour Pierce, said that he was cutting his profit forecast for the year to £5.3 million from £6.5 million as a result of the warning.

He said that Dobbies’ rivals, including the DIY chains B&Q, Focus and Homebase, as well as the garden centre chain Wyevale, owned by Sir Tom, had all felt the impact of the poor weather over the past few months.

However, he added: “Tesco haven’t bought Dobbies for this year’s profits. They will be more interested in what happens with Hunter.”

Tesco said last week that it had gained the support of shareholders controlling 53.1 per cent of Dobbies’ stock, ensuring that it had gained management control of the chain.

However, Sir Tom owns nearly 30 per cent of Dobbies’ shares and so is able to block Tesco from taking the garden centre off the Alternative Investment Market. He will also be able to veto any financial restructuring plans that Tesco might want to put in place, but he will not be able to stop the supermarket from cutting or removing a dividend.

Analysts say that it will be almost impossible for Sir Tom to win control of Dobbies unless Tesco wants to relinquish its investment and that his main aim is to frustrate the supermarket’s efforts to compete with his Wyevale and Blooms garden centre chains. Dobbies shares dipped 2½p to £15.025 yesterday as it said that underlying sales had risen by 0.5 per cent and it would have to pay £2.8 million in fees related to Tesco’s takeover. It said that although operating profits would fall behind expectations, they would be higher than a year before.

Tesco said that it was not surprised by Dobbies’ poor performance over the summer, given this year’s weather. A spokesman added: “Long term, our view is that Dobbies is a great business in good shape and it has got strong growth plans. We are excited about creating a nationwide business and bringing in new products.”

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