I fear it may have been too early for me to write just last week that we had perhaps turned a corner in this industry. Only a week after writing that, we have had a slew of companies sadly fall over to resume the procession of companies we have seen over the past couple of years go to the wall.
This time it is AluFold Direct.
Social media announcements
The news about the troubles at AluFold Direct came via announcements being made by staff that were finding out their fate and taking to Linkedin to swiftly find new opportunities:
The additional remarks in the comment sections further confirmed that the fate of AluFold was not good. There is yet to be a notice posted on the Gazette, with Companies House records notoriously slow to be updated. But a contact earlier in the day told me that staff were told this morning to go home.
This follows on from the news that facade specialists EAG and sister company Multifab had also closed their doors, with the loss of further jobs.
Something also appears to be happening at New Wave Doors, although it is not fully clear what the ramifications of this particular notice are, given the fact that there are a number of NWD-named businesses still listed on Companies House: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4897964/
This has not been a good week for aluminium or the fenestration sector in general, and shows that there is still obviously a large degree of instability within the market. The reasons why and the exploration of them can come another day.
Changing commentary
Other than the odd over-optimistic market report, one thing I have noticed is that the industry has finally stopped the charade of pumping out obviously disingenuous PR about things being better than they actually are. The market is finally talking more openly about how difficult things are.
Indeed, I am now having more open and honest conversations with industry leaders about how tough things actually are in the sector right now. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Blind faith isn’t exactly a plan. Acknowledgement of the conditions is one of the first steps in being able to tackle the market in its current state.
To recall my own experience, this does very very much like the wilderness of 2009 and the post-financial-crisis era. Those of us who worked during that period of time will remember how difficult it was back then, and a number of people I have spoken to have said the same thing. It took a number of years for stability to return to the market after the huge turmoil the world went through after Lehman Brothers collapsed in the US.
The question this time is how long this particular cycle is going to last. It feels as though we have been in it for a couple of years already, ever since high inflation started to bite almost everywhere. I don’t think many of us would wish to see such a slow return to something more stable than it took after the GFC.
For now, I hope that everyone that has has been affected by the closing of companies in the last few days, including AluFold Direct, are able to find new employment as soon as possible and can start a great new chapter in their careers.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.
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