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Interpath Advisory has been appointed to oversee the administration of Safestyle UK, a leading retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors.
Rick Harrison and Will Wright from the firm were appointed joint administrators on 30 October.
Headquartered in Bradford, the company has a large manufacturing facility in Wombwell, near Barnsley, and operates from a network of 42 sales branches and installation depots across the UK.
Having faced pressures in the market due to high cost inflation, economic uncertainty and “fragile” consumer confidence Safestyle explored a range of options to help strengthen its balance sheet, including a capital injection or new financing, a potential sale of shares in the subsidiaries, as well as a sale of the business.
According to Interpath, despite interest being shown by a number of parties, “a solvent solution was unable to be found, and the directors took the difficult decision to seek the appointment of administrators”.
Safestyle employed around 750 employees, the majority of whom have now been made redundant. Around 70 members of staff have been retained by Interpath in the short term to help with the winding down of the business.
Rick Harrison, managing director at Interpath Advisory, said: “These are really challenging times for companies across the home improvement market. After seeing strong sales during the Covid lockdown periods, many companies are seeing trading being impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and soaring costs.
“Unfortunately for Safestyle, and despite the tireless efforts of the management team over recent months, these challenges have proven too difficult to overcome. This will be particularly devastating for the company’s employees, as well as the many self-employed contractors who worked on behalf of the company.”
He added: “Our immediate priority will be to provide support to those impacted by redundancy, including supporting them in making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service where relevant.”
