Management Buyout At Sliders UK

Various media outlets are now reporting that there has been a management buyout at Sliders UK. Here is the announcement which you can find on the Glass News website:

Sliders UK has announced the formation of a new senior management team as part of an ambitious strategy for significant new growth.

Created through a management buy-out, the new structure sees Alex Murphy, previously Operations Director, step up to a new role as Chief Executive Officer.

Ian Longbottom and Steve Mines remain in their respective roles, as Chairman and Sales Director and joined alongside Murphy in Sliders UK’s new senior team by Finance Director, Jonathan Foxcroft. Richard Harris and Russell Pryor also join the business as retained consultants.

Ian Longbottom, Chairman, Sliders UK, said: “We have ambitions for significant long term growth and are already 18-months along the road towards it. This includes not only the creation of our new management structure as announced today but also the major investment which has already been delivered in our manufacturing capability.

“With increased capacity, even better quality and service and with some very exciting product developments on the horizon, we believe that the market offers considerable opportunity for sustained growth– our own but most importantly, that of our customers.”

The restructure, completed in April, sees Mike Spain, who co-founder Sliders UK, leave the business.

Sliders UK reported that year-on-year sales were up 16% on the same time last year at the end of 2016. It said this had been underpinned by new products, including the Ultimate Evolution and Sliders UK’s new Duraflex bi-folding doors, plus growth in composite door sales.

Sales of composite doors were also boosted by the specialist manufacturer’s investment in its new line. This means that Sliders UK can offer composite doors in 5-days or less.

“The restructure of our composite door line early has given us faster turnaround and an increasingly competitive offer at a time when reliability”, says Mines. “This has come at a time of not only growth in the composite door market but at a time when service in the sector has in general, dropped off.”

Product development has also formed a key part of Sliders UK’s growth strategy. This includes the launch of the Ultimate Evolution aluminium bi-fold door in late summer last year.

Sitting alongside its established aluminium bi-fold door offer from ALUK, it features a highly innovative fully adjustable jamb option. This makes it far simpler to align the door, even where apertures are out of square – cutting installation times to as little as 45 minutes.

PAS24 and Part Q compliant, it also launched the new Duraflex bi-folding door at the end of the year. This is fully integrated with the systems company’s Diamond suite, featuring beveled and chamfered options it achieves a DER ‘A’ rating and u-values as low as 1.1Wm²/K.

It’s launch and that of the Ultimate Evolution, sitting alongside its established Eurocell Ultimate Aspect PVC-U door range and the launch of the PremiLine PRO patio door from Kömmerling. .

Another Part Q ready door, it sits alongside Sliders UK’s established offer from Duraflex, giving the door specialist one of, if not the, industry’s largest bi-fold and patio door offers.

Longbottom continued: “The product innovation that we have delivered so far delivers incredible opportunity to our customers.

He concluded: “We believe that the range, the service levels and the quality that we’re able to offer from a single specialist supplier, delivers a real advantage and that that and the team and strategy which we now have in place, represent a strong foundation for our future growth and that of our customers.”

See the article on Glass News

A push for more growth

It’s clear that the main aim is to boost growth for the company moving forward. In a market that still needs further consolidation, this is distinctly possible so long as they can get the basics right. At the moment, there is discontent within the industry, as it grapples to get service and quality control back on the right track. Any company that can nail the basics of product quality and customer service will very easily win new customers. Sliders should maintain their aims and they should find growth coming quite easily.

That being said, the one bump in the road could be a slowdown in consumer spending. Inflation has risen, and wages are only just about keeping up pace. Add to that a degree of General Election uncertainty and an economic cycle that might be showing signs of a generic slowing of growth pace, double-digit growth in 2017 might not be as easy to come by as once thought.

Still, the market is shaky in places, installers aren’t happy and there is more consolidating to do. An ideal chance for a company with growth aspirations to come in an start stealing valuable market share from those who aren’t getting it right.