In what is (from what I can see) the first public acknowledgement of the “restructuring” of the UK Window Group, Safestyle have issued this morning a Key Supplier Update to clarify the situation at the business. Duraflex, part of UKWG, are a major supplier to Safestyle UK.

This was the statement they published:

Safestyle UK plc (AIM: SFE), the leading retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors to the UK homeowner market, today issues an update following an announcement made by UK Window Group of which the Group’s PVCu profile supplier Duraflex is a part.

UK Window Group yesterday announced that certain assets of the Company, including all assets utilised by Duraflex, have been sold to a subsidiary of its current owners.  This is part of a wider strategic restructuring programme that it believes will secure the long-term future of the Company with a much improved financial position.

Safestyle has been working closely with the board of UK Window Group and its owners over the last nine months as they have been implementing a turnaround plan for their business.  During this process we have put in place a range of risk mitigation measures, including building significant buffer stocks of window profiles.  This ensures the Group has sufficient stock in place to largely mitigate the impact of a forced change in profile supplier.

Following this restructure by UK Window Group, the Board does not anticipate any major interruption to our supply of PVCu profiles.  Supply chains generally remain stretched by recent good levels of demand in the industry but these challenges will be manageable over the coming months.

The Board will provide an update on the Group’s recent trading as part of our half year results announcement on 17 September 2020.

We know now that we can expect Safestyle’s H1 results next week. Epwin announced theirs yesterday and I have analysis on Eurocell’s H1 results coming up.

There hasn’t been much talk about the UKWG restructuring. But there was a recent piece in local news site the Caerphilly Observer where they reported that the UKWG would be closing its base in the town, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. The site employs 200 people according to the article. You can read that article here: https://caerphilly.observer/news/994220/fears-hundreds-of-jobs-could-be-lost-after-closure-of-window-factory/

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