Further growth on agenda for Safestyle
FURTHER growth is on the agenda for Safestyle UK, which announced a rise in profits in its first set of full year results since its AIM debut.
The Bradford-based window and door manufacturer, which floated in December becoming the only stock market quoted double glazing business in the UK, has seen underlying EBITDA of £15.8m, up 52%, gross profit up 18% to £45.2m and revenue up 13% to £124.8m in its results for the year ended December 31 2013. Profit before tax, listing costs and tax settlement of £15m for the year has shown an increase of 58%.
CEO, Steve Birmingham, said: “Safestyle UK has continued its impressive run of turnover growth, market share gain and margin enhancement, all feeding through to a record level of profits. We believe that we are the leading player in a highly fragmented yet competitive market and that our focus and dedication to quality and price, along with continued expansion into the South and South East, will enable us to grow further.”
Safestyle UK, which employs 600 staff at factories in Bradford and Barnsley, joined AIM in December with an initial market capitalisation of around £77m, making it the second largest AIM flotation of 2013.
Birmingham added: “The group is well positioned to build on this performance as the general economy and the home improvement market continue to recover.
“Order intake in the first two months of the current financial year has been strong and in excess of that for the corresponding period in 2013. With this in mind, we are pleased to propose a dividend of 5.5p per share for the year ended December 31 2013 and look forward to the future with confidence.”
Safestyle added that its balance sheet is “robust” and the business has “excellent” cash generation. At the year-end it had cash of £5.2m.
Chairman Steve Halbert said: “The recovering UK economy, with improving home-owner sentiment, coupled with the progress in our business, means that we are very well placed to enjoy a period of further success. Order intake in the first two months of the year has been strong and we have made an encouraging start to the year. The business has been through many changes in 2013 and delivered record results.”
Safestyle’s market share increased for the ninth consecutive year to 7.85%. The group said it understands this represents the leading share in a highly fragmented market.The group also said it believes that after the prolonged economic downturn of last few years, the recent upturn in housing transactions and prices, falling unemployment and improving consumer confidence are creating conditions increasingly favourable to growth in market demand.
During 2013, Safestyle UK invested in IT infrastructure and manufacturing systems and processes. It completed the £0.8m first phase of a £1.55m two-stage investment, with the second phase scheduled for this year accompanied by further investment in its IT infrastructure.
The company also added to its nationwide base of 29 sales offices and 10 installation depots with two new sales branches and two installation depots to ensure it is able to take full advantage of increasing demand in the South, South East and Greater London geographic area.
