Safestyle sees strong increase in trading after lockdown

The Bradford-based firm said people are spending far more time indoors and in the garden since the coronavirus outbreak and they want to improve their home environment.

Mike Gallacher, Safestyle’s CEO, said: “Customers have shifted spending from holidays, travel and leisure to home improvements. It’s a trend that has continued.

“It has led to us recruiting 150 staff, most of them are in the Yorkshire area. We are recruiting very heavily.

“People are not spending in restaurants, bars or going shopping. They have been back in their homes, looking at their house and want a better environment.”

Mr Gallacher said Safestyle has also gained market share.

Talking about the latest trends, Mr Gallacher said the firm has seen a big increase in demand for coloured window and door frames, with grey, black and cream proving a popular choice rather than the standard white frames.

When asked whether he was worried about a second wave and further lockdowns, Mr Gallacher said: “Everybody is concerned about that risk and we are prepared for it. It’s a business risk that all businesses are planning for.

“We are financially strong with a strong balance sheet. If it happens, we will manage our way through it. We continued selling throughout the last lockdown.

“We have been operating safely since May with very high standards of Covid-safe policies. It’s a concern, but we are prepared for it.”

Safestyle said order intake has been strong since operations restarted in late May. The firm achieved year on year growth of 26 per cent between June and August.

However, the group made an underlying pre-tax loss of £5m in the six months to June 30, after operations ceased on March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Safestyle said revenue and profitability between March and May were materially lower as a result of Covid-19.

Mr Gallacher said: “The first half of 2020 presented some major management and operational challenges which were successfully navigated with strong support from our shareholders, effective Government intervention and the efforts of all of our staff.

“Since we re-emerged from lockdown, our strong order intake performance has been sustained and we have moved to ramp up operational capacity to match this demand.”

He said that despite the challenges, the group has made tangible progress on longer term strategic priorities.

“This includes modernising our brand, professionalising our sales force and embedding best practice compliance processes,” he said.

“It is not yet clear if the recent strong trading performance is sustainable in light of the current economic environment and any uncertainty is likely to impact consumer confidence.

“However our strong order book, our position as a leading national value brand and the progress made on modernising the business leaves us well positioned to sustain our momentum as we move into 2021.”