BRADFORD firm Safestyle UK will begin manufacturing and installing PVCu windows and doors again from the end of this month, it has been announced.
Alan Lovell, chairman of the leading retailer and manufacturer will outline the company’s position at today’s annual general meeting.
Safestyle temporarily closed all its sites across the country, as well as stopping all survey and installation work, at the end of March during the coronavirus lockdown.
The majority of its staff members were furloughed, using the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, while a limited number of employees were retained to provide emergency support and updates on orders to customers over the phone.
The company also raised £8.5m by a placing of 50 million new ordinary shares to help it through the “current crisis” caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
A company statement today said: “In light of the Government’s updated guidelines, the group’s senior management are now planning a restart of our commercial operations. The plan is based on a phased and measured return to work for the business and involves a number of temporary changes to our policies and practices to ensure staff and customer safety. As a business, we are confident in our ability to operate in line with the COVID-19 Secure guidelines, as soon as it is permissible to do so.
“With the necessary health and safety measures in place, the company is currently expecting to restart operations, including manufacturing, installations, surveying and selling activities by the end of May. Staff working in the Company’s various support functions will also begin to return to work in line with this phased restart, although the Company will continue to ensure people who are able to work from home do so.
“Clearly there are high levels of uncertainty around consumer demand for the year ahead, the challenges of selling in home and the competitive environment. The Company will seek to adjust to this operating context rapidly. It will continue to utilise the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as required through the summer, whilst maintaining tight controls on the group’s cost base and closely monitoring available liquidity.”
Of the future, the statement added: “It remains impossible to provide financial guidance for the year ending 31 December 2020 in the current environment pending further certainty of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer confidence and any negative impact on established ways of working. As and when we are able to provide further information we will do so.
“Whilst the short-term outlook remains uncertain, the board has considered various scenarios as part of plans to re-start operations safely in response to customer demand and continues to target progress made in the group’s turnaround plan. Moreover, the business is more resilient with a leaner fixed cost base and considerable liquidity to underpin its ability to navigate through the challenges presented by the pandemic and return to its plans as quickly as possible.”
In March the company unveiled its latest full year results which showed it had cut its pre-tax losses by almost 80 per cent in 2019 as the second phase of a turnaround plan took hold. A three-phase turnaround plan was implemented after the company made a £16.3m loss before tax in 2018, as revenue fell by more than £40m.
