Russian cyber attack results in profit warning for manufacturer

A “highly sophisticated” Russian cyber attack on Safestyle UK has had a “material impact” on its profits, causing its shares to drop 10% in early trading.

The Bradford-based manufacturer reported the attack last month and has now revealed it caused a 10% hit to its first-half revenues because of the impact on its order processing and customer services operations.

Mike Gallacher, chief executive of Safestyle, said: “This has been another huge challenge for the business, impacting us as we emerged out of the operational disruption caused by the pandemic.”

However the windows and doors specialist said its sales momentum has “remained strong”, supported by a return to TV advertising two weeks ago.

The company said the attack “is largely behind us” and has maintained its guidance for the second half of the year, based on its strong order book and its confidence that operations will return to normal by Easter.

Safestyle has committed to continue with the advertising investment as part of its wider investment strategy. In particular it will accelerate its existing multi-year IT investment plans.

Its balance sheet, liquidity and net cash positions remain “healthy” and are comparable to those levels previously communicated at the end of 2021, with net cash currently over £12m.