Inflation and falling consumer confidence blamed as window firm collapses with 680 jobs lost

Administrators for Safestyle UK have said the windows and doors maker for the homeowner market has made about 680 of its workers redundant after it fell into administration.

Interpath Advisory said about 70 of the company’s 750 employees would be kept on in the short term to help wind down the business.

Workers arrived for a “crunch meeting” at the Safestyle UK manufacturing site in Wombwell, Barnsley, this afternoon to find the office locked. 

“Workers were read a statement confirming they had been made redundant with immediate effect. Many of them were visibly upset,” a spokesman from GMB Union told Building. 

Rick Harrison, managing director at Interpath Advisory, said: “These are really challenging times for companies across the home improvement market. After seeing strong sales during the covid lockdown periods, many companies are seeing trading being impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and soaring costs.”

The firm suspended its shares on Friday morning with chief executive Rob Neale telling hundreds of workers at its Barnsley site to “down tools” in a text message. Half an hour before, the firm admitted that rescue attempts through a sale or new financing had become “increasingly unlikely”.

One unnamed Safestyle worker told the BBC today: “We still had millions of pounds of orders in, we were literally making the products right up until the end. There are orders wrapping up still in the factory ready for installation.”

In its last set of results for the six months to 2 July, the firm, which was set up in 1992, saw pre-tax losses widen to £6.7m from £2.8m on revenue down to £74m from £78m.

Revenue in 2022 was up close to 8% to £154m but the firm slumped to an £8.5m pre-tax loss from a £6m profit in 2021. The firm said it had been hit by the £4m cost of a cyber attack and £5m it ploughed into a strategic investment programme.