Challenging year for Bradford firm Safestyle with £8.5m loss for 2022

The reported loss before taxation for the retailer and manufacturer was £8.5 million. This compares to a £6m profit the previous year.

Safestyle said its underlying reduction in profit was due to the estimated £4m impact of a cyber-attack in the first quarter of the year and its £5m strategic investment programme.

Revenue for the firm was £154.3m, a growth of 7.7 per cent on 2021’s figure of £143.3m. In addition the firm, which has its headquarters in Manningham, said its order book value was more than 60 per cent ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

A Safestyle fitter with one of the company's doors (Image: Safestyle UK)

CEO Rob Neale said: “2022 was a challenging year for our business. We were forced to deal with a number of unforeseeable issues which impacted our financial results and slowed the momentum we had built up through 2021.

“The most pleasing aspect of 2022 was the resilience our business showed to meet these challenges head on and simultaneously embark upon a significant strategic investment agenda which will set the foundations in place for our business to grow over the medium term.

“During the first quarter of this financial year, we have seen variable trading patterns which reflect the difficult consumer environment across the wider economy. Whilst mindful of these conditions, the Board remains focused on increasing our market share by continuing to invest behind our strategic agenda.

“However, it is important to note that much of this investment is variable and the Board will use the levers available to it should market conditions dictate more prudence. Consequently, we now expect full year underlying profit to be at least £2.0m.

“Notwithstanding this, we remain excited about the future of Safestyle and believe that appropriate investments made now will set us up well for growth when consumer confidence returns.”

Bradford firm Safestyle has introduced an extended guarantee on all its double glazed units (Image: Safestyle)

As well as the “highly-sophisticated” Russian cyber-attack in January, which caused disruption to customer service and a delay to a planned material price increase, the firm’s factory encountered issues over two months due to the heatwave in July.

In terms of outlook, Safestyle says its order intake for the year to date has been variable – January was in line with expectations, but February and March “have been slower than anticipated”.

“The trading context of the UK economy and consumer confidence remains challenging,” it adds.

The firm says it is continuing to invest in its brand with a TV and radio campaign designed to emphasise the relevance of its product at a time of high household energy costs.