Rick Harrison and Will Wright from Interpath Advisory have been appointed joint administrators to H.P.A.S Limited, trading as Safestyle UK, Style Group Holdings Limited and Style Group UK Limited.
Headquartered in Bradford, Safestyle UK is one of the UK’s leading retailers and manufacturers of PVCu replacement windows and doors for the homeowner market. 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.
In common with a number of companies across the home improvement sector, Safestyle UK has had to navigate a number of pressures which have impacted trading, including high cost inflation, ongoing economic uncertainty and fragile consumer confidence. In recent months, these pressures have been exacerbated by an unseasonally warm September, which has dampened customer demand.
In response to these challenges, the Group engaged with stakeholders to explore a range of options to help strengthen its balance sheet, including a capital injection or new financing, a potential sale of the shares in the subsidiaries and/or a sale of the business and assets of the subsidiaries.
Unfortunately, despite interest being shown by a number of parties, a solvent solution was unable to be found, and the directors took the decision to seek the appointment of administrators.
The company directly employs circa 750 employees. With trading ceasing upon the appointment of the joint administrators, the majority of staff have been made redundant. Circa 70 members of staff have been retained by the administrators in the short term to assist with an orderly wind-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.
“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.”
