Safestyle posts the good news of an £8m loss forecast
18th December 2018

Safestyle UK has signalled more signs of a rapid recovery despite forecasting potential losses in excess of £8million in its first trading update since its October legal victory.

The company announced yesterday it now confidently expects performance in 2019 to be ahead of market expectations, with an order uptake already in line with those of a year ago, before the lengthy and damaging battle with me-too newcomer SafeGlaze UK.

This has led to heavy recruitment in its canvass, sales, surveying and installations operations, as well as investment above budget in lead generation, commissions and associated overheads.

The company continued in its statement: “Whilst management anticipates that turnover for the last month of the year will be ahead of that previously forecast, the majority of the benefit of this recruitment and the return on this increased investment will only occur in 2019.

“As a result of the timing difference between incurring these higher costs and the installations taking place, the Board now expects that for the year ending 31 December 2018, the Group will deliver an underlying loss before tax that is between £8.2m and £8.6m. 

It concluded: “However, as a result of the aforementioned recruitment activity and associated investment in growth and notwithstanding the fact that management's three phase turnaround plan is in its early stages against a backdrop of weaker consumer confidence, the Board is confident that the recovery and performance in 2019 will be ahead of current market expectations.”