We got Timing Right, says Anglian Home Improvements

One of the biggest names in the double glazing and home improvements industry yesterday predicted that profits will rise this year despite the slowing economy, troubled housing market and dented consumer confidence. Anglian Home Improvements said revenues were down but profits were up in the six months to September - and forecast a better financial performance this year than last.

(PRWEB) November 29, 2008 -- One of the biggest names in the double glazing (http://www.anglianhome.co.uk/double-glazing/) and home improvements industry yesterday predicted that profits will rise this year despite the slowing economy, troubled housing market and dented consumer confidence.

Anglian Home Improvements said revenues were down but profits were up in the six months to September - and forecast a better financial performance this year than last.

The last year has seen major restructuring at Anglian, with the closure of its Rochdale operation and the move to bring all manufacturing to Norwich.

Refinancing of the firm saw a change of ownership in June, with a syndicate of banks taking a controlling stake in the business from venture capital group Alchemy in exchange for reducing the company's debt by £90m.

The restructuring of the business, which employs about 1,000 people in Norwich, has also seen 94 job losses, with 58 taking voluntary redundancy.

Anglian chief executive Peter Mottershead also urged chancellor Alistair Darling to use targeted tax cuts to bolster consumer confidence and encourage businesses to invest for the long term.

"When you look at the early part of this year, Anglian was one of the businesses to recognise fairly early on that markets were going to get tough," Mr Mottershead said.

"We had to take a view on what we needed to do to get ready for what was potentially going to happen. The refinancing was really a reflection of that. We worked closely with our investors and financial institutions to come up with package we all felt comfortable with that would take the business on to another level. It was trying to stay ahead of what was happening in the marketplace. Trying to do it today would be quite difficult -, just trying to talk to the banks today about these sorts of things is probably quite challenging for some companies. We got the timing right. Back in May-June, some people will have taken it as a sign of weakness. Today, they take it as a sign of strength. We did it at the time was that was right for us, and resulted in a stronger business going forward. When you look at what has happened in our sector since then, the number of companies that have unfortunately gone out of the industry is large because they haven't been able to do some of the things we've done ahead of the curve."

Mr Mottershead said the firm had worked closely with unions about job losses and said he hoped this year's restructuring had left the business in better shape for the future.

"By working with the GMB and being in a position where most people understood the current environment, we've managed to come up with joint proposal which has seen two thirds of the number of redundancies we were looking for taking voluntary redundancy. It has taken a lot of hard work with the union to end up in that position. But we and they were able to come up with something that will help the business and in the long term will help their members as well."

He added: "By the acts we've taken, we've remained profitable and cash generative in the financial year to date and our aim is to have a better performance in this period than last year - and we're well on target to do that, despite the difficulties.

"We have looked at our business, taken decisive action and feel that if a customer deals with us, we are in a strong position to keep our end of the bargain and our long term commitment to them."

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