Safestyle UK: Suppliers, staff and taxpayers set to lose millions after window firm's collapse

The Yorkshire-based company went into administration with the loss of 700 jobs at the end of October and is now being wound down.

Now, administrator Interpath has set out what creditors can expect after revealing earlier this month the group owed more than £30m.

Unsecured creditors owed £13.5m are “unlikely” to receive any money back.

This includes £9.7m owed to business suppliers, as well as £3.6m of unsecured employee claims understood to relate to areas such as redundancy payouts.

A further £7.8m is owed to HMRC but the precise amount depends on what is raised from selling assets.

The same applies to £400,000 of wage arrears, unclaimed holiday pay and certain pension benefits.

Factories in Wombwell, Barnsley, have been put on the market for a combined £8.75m.

Two head office properties in Bradford are to be sold at auction, one with a reserve price of £400,000 and the other of £200,000.

In addition, “state-of-the-art equipment” for manufacturing windows and doors which was in place at its Wombwell factory is to be sold, in part via auction. It is hoped the sales could raise £1.4m.

Administrators also say the firm had £18m of unfulfilled customer jobs on its order book. That has been sold to window firm Anglian for £2m.

They have also revealed further details about the circumstances of the firm’s collapse, stating it was “significantly loss-making” by summer 2023 after being hit by inflation on raw materials, softening demand from consumers and a 2022 cyberattack.

It said the firm’s trading losses and high operational leverage resulted in an effort to seek further investment from shareholders which was unsuccessful.

Interpath was engaged in September to seek a potential sale of the business and despite 22 interested parties signing non-disclosure agreements to receive further information no deal was struck. Of the 22, five parties received presentations from Safestyle’s management team.

Administrators said: “Whilst interest was received and discussions with interested parties reached advanced stages, by October 27 there were no offers that could be proceeded within the timeframe, given the company’s cash position. As such, the directors resolved to appoint administrators.”