Bradford windows and doors firm Safestyle suffers cyber attack

The Bradford-based said it immediately engaged external specialists on becoming aware of the incident.

Safestyle added that it has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure, "including taking its systems offline whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its systems recovery plan".

The business remains operational, continuing to sell, survey, manufacture, install and service its customers although some of its contact centre response times are longer than usual.

All of the group’s payment processes, including receiving payments from customers which are transacted through third parties, as well as making payments to its staff and suppliers, have continued as normal.

Safestyle said it is working with the police and relevant regulatory authorities.

Earlier this week, reported that underlying profit before tax was ahead of market expectations for the year ended January 2, 2022, with the firm expecting trading conditions to improve this year.

The retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors said it had a strong net cash position of around £12.1m and that it had taken effective action to mitigate ongoing cost inflation and supply chain pressures.

Trading during the first weeks of 2022 has remained healthy with order book growing in line with the usual first quarter trading pattern.

Mike Gallacher, CEO of Safestyle, said: "I am delighted that despite the turbulent context in which we have operated over the last 12 months we have been able to both improve our financial delivery and make strong progress on our strategic priorities.

"This has delivered our best financial performance since 2017 whilst also building the foundations for sustainable long-term growth.

"As a result, the Board expects 2021's full year underlying profit before tax to be ahead of current market expectations."

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James Mitchinson