Safestyle UK to provide jobs boost for Yorkshire after securing strong revenue growth during a period of turbulence

Safestyle, which already employs around 1,000 staff in Yorkshire., plans to hire a significant number of staff at its bases in Bradford and Wombwell, South Yorkshire.

The company said it was continuing to see labour challenges and inflation pressures, but expects these issues to ease next year.

Safestyle UK, which is a retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors, has announced its interim results for the six months ended 4 July 2021.

Safestyle said its underlying profit before taxation of £5.1m was the strongest financial performance of the business since the second half of 2017.

The company's half year revenue of £73m represents revenue growth of 13.3% compared with the first half of 2019.

The company said that, despite the sustained turbulence, continued progress was made against the company's core strategies, including brand development, consumer finance costs, revenue management, compliance and sustainability.

It is also launching the Safestyle academy to provide jobs for the future in the industry.

Mike Gallacher, CEO said: "The business faced continued operational disruption during H1 and I am proud of the flexibility and resilience of all our staff in sustaining our operations while ensuring the safety of our customers and our people.

"The momentum we built on return from the first lockdown was sustained into H1 2021 resulting in strong revenue growth versus 2019 and an order book 65.7% higher than at the end of H1 2019. This performance has underpinned our ability to deliver a rapid recovery in profitability and a further strengthening of our balance sheet.

"Despite the continuing challenges of managing the disruption caused by the pandemic we have continued to make progress on a number of our strategic priorities. Our aim remains to build long term value for shareholders by modernising the business and hence building the foundations for sustained long term growth."

Analysts at Zeus Capital said: "The first half performance indicates that the turnaround is almost complete with Safestyle reporting the best half year financial performance since H2 2017."