Things didn’t get much better on the share price front for Safestyle UK on Friday last week as their share price fell a further 12% following on from a 20% drop the day before after yet another profit warning.

This morning we have news of a new immediate Non-Executive Chairman appointment, namely Alan Lovell.

The statement

Here is the core of the latest statement from the company:

Safestyle UK plc, the leading retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors to the UK homeowner market, is pleased to announce the appointment of Alan Lovell as Non-Executive Chairman, effective immediately.

Alan has held numerous listed company directorships, both executive and, more recently, nonexecutive. He has been the Non-Executive Chairman of Flowgroup plc since 2017, National Chairman of the Consumer Council for Water since 2015, and was appointed as Senior Non-Executive Director at SIG plc in July 2018. He was a Non-Executive Council Member of Lloyd’s of London from 2007 to 2016, the Senior Independent Director of Sweett Group plc between 2014 and 2016 and was Chairman of professional radio technology company Sepura plc which was successfully sold to Hytera Communications Corporation Limited in May 2017.

Alan was also appointed as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Restructuring Committee of Carillion plc as part of an attempt to put together a rescue package for the company during its final 10 weeks of trading. Alan has a huge breadth of experience, including both strategic and complex situations, with a particular focus on companies undergoing turnaround or business improvement initiatives.

In his executive career, Alan was Chief Executive Officer of six companies, most recently Tamar Energy Limited (2011-2013) and Infinis Limited (2006-2009), both in the waste-to-energy sector, consumer goods group Dunlop Slazenger (1997-2004) and three in the construction sector, Jarvis plc (20042006), Costain Group plc (1992-1997) and Conder Group plc (1989-1992).

In addition, as previously announced on 22 March 2018, the Board is pleased to formally welcome Rob Neale to the Board as Chief Financial Officer and looks forward to him supporting and contributing to the Company’s development.

Chris Davies, Senior Non-Executive Director of Safestyle UK PLC, commented: “I am delighted that Alan has agreed to join the Board as Chairman. His breadth of experience, both as a CEO and as a Chairman, will be invaluable to the Board and Executive team and I am confident he will help to ensure we take advantage of the opportunities that will arise as the market returns.”

Alan Lovell, incoming Chairman of Safestyle UK PLC, said: “I am pleased to be joining Safestyle at this important point in the Company’s journey. I have spent some time with Chris and the management team and it is clear that there is much to do both at an operational and Board level. I shall be looking to strengthen the Board to ensure that we have the best possible chance of working through the current challenges and delivering value to shareholders.”

Read the whole statement here

DGB Business

Share price drops again

The company’s share price ended last week on another very negative tone, dropping another 12%, following on from a 20% drop the day previously:

Credit: Bloomberg

They have risen slightly today to 36.25p at the time of writing. But a lot of value remains lost in the matter of two days. It was their last profit warning which really sent their share price into a tailspin on Thursday. Clearly investors weren’t feeling confident on the company in Friday either, pulling out further money.

The job Alan Lovell has on his hands is massive. There are some long term problems to rectify at the company, and the problems continue to pile up. The company still needs to rebuild their sales and installer teams, many of them jumping ship to new competitors as well as existing. Then there was that huge £6m “exceptional” cost to recover from. That must have dented their cash pile to some degree, which was already being tapped to help fund some of the structural changes in the company.

There is also the ongoing court case with SafeGlaze. Even if the court finds in favour of SafeStyle, that still won’t address the issues with their business model and place within the wider industry. Those are problems that have to be addressed immediately and from within. They continue to state that the consumer market remains challenging in each trading update. But, a good business always finds new revenue streams and adapts to the changing consumer market. That’s what smaller installations companies have been doing for a while and they appear to be faring much better than the very biggest installers in the market.

Any fresh news on this story will be updated on this article.

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