Safestyle optimistic despite £16m loss
and £40m sales drop
26th March 2019

Safestyle UK says it is now ‘focussed on rapid return to profitability’ despite closing a year of battle against ‘disruptive newcomer’ Safeglaze UK with a £16.3million loss and revenue down by over £40million.

Its final results statement adds that the loss includes £7.5m for ‘significant non-underlying items’, mostly the court action against Mitu Misra’s Safeglaze as well as a large HSE fine from a 2017 prosecution.

Total orders also dropped by more than 30% in volume to 184,184 frames, however this was offset slightly by a six per cent rise in sales prices.

Chairman Alan Lovell said the group had invested heavily in lead generation, commissions and associated overheads prior to the end of the year but this came too late in the year to improve the performance for 2018. 

He continued: “Nonetheless, sales order intake for the final two months of 2018 saw a step change in performance compared to the majority of the year and I am pleased to report that the first part of 2019 has continued this positive momentum, with a performance that is ahead of the comparative period in 2018.”

Chief executive Mike Gallacher said: “The business faced a unique and challenging operating context in 2018, but I am pleased to say through the dedication and hard work of our people, we ended the year with our business stabilised and trading position materially improved.

"With many of the issues faced in 2018 behind us, our experienced management team is wholly focused on driving growth, improving margins and building on the underlying strengths of the business.

"While there is still much work to do, we look forward to the opportunities of the year ahead and returning Safestyle to profitability.”

The long and bloody battle with Safeglaze ended in October read story when Mitu Misra, the man behind the challenger settled with a non-compete arrangement with Safestyle.