The industry appears to have had a pretty rough end to 2019 and a pretty sour start to 2020. Its a theme I’ll explore in a later post, as over the past few weeks there have been a number of fairly significant companies facing administration.

However, perhaps one of the high profile casualities appears to be Facace & Glazing Solutions Ltd or FGS for short.

Breaking on Linkedin

Its important to say at this point that there has been no official confirmation from the company, nor are there any documents yet posted on Companies House or The Gazette. This could be because its a weekend. The early days of next week is when we may see something official show up.

However, staff and those connected with the company have been posting updates for the past couple of days on Linkedin about the apparent demise of the business. These are just a few of the many which have been publish on the social media platform:

Significant business

As a company FGS have had a fairly long and busy history. This is their timeline shown on their website:

Credit: FGS

As we start 2020 with renewed confidence after a decisive General Election result and clarity on the path forwards, this will be a disappointing sign for industry observers. This sad result appears to be part of a wider trend. A quick check on The Gazette will show that a high number of window and glazing companies posted notices for insolvency in the run up to Christmas and into the New Year.

I’m hesitant to be overly negative though. I think what we’re seeing are the results of a fairly poor year for the industry in 2019. Profitability has been hard, margins have been hit and consumer/business confidence has been shaky. January and February are the worst months for cash flow, so I don’t think this will be the last casualty we’ll see in the New Year.

However, there’s a lot of commentary out there which says both consumer and business confidence is bouncing back in a strong way. Contacts I have spoken to all say they are looking forward to a positive 2020 and are already seeing signs of something more fruitful compared to 2019. Come Q2 I’m hoping to see much more positive news coming out of the industry.

For now, attention needs to be paid to the 200+ people that appear to have lost their jobs and the supply chain connected to the company. These will have been people not expecting to start 2020 with this sort of news. Thankfully, the community on Linkedin already appear to be doing their bit and helping to spread the word to connections who might be able to find people new employment. Keep an eye though on the supply chain connected to the business. They’re also going to take a hit, how much we don’t know yet, but its effects will add further pressure when business would prefer to be looking on the positive side of things right now.

As I have said, there have been no official documents posted on either Companies House or The Gazette and there has been no word from the company itself, so in the coming days this story may need to change and be updated. As more is known it will be posted on DGB.

Finally, for those worried about their jobs, I would recommend going to Chase Taylor Recruitment. You can find out more about them here. They’re the most well connected recruitment agency in the industry and are sure to be of some help at this time.

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