12
NEW YEAR MESSAGES
Russell Yates,
managing
director, AluK
Nick Bailey,
BDM, Business
Micros
We’re very excited
about the
opportunities
which lie ahead
for us in 2020. We delivered a really
strong performance in 2019, with growth of
around 15%, an increase in market share and a number of new
fabricators coming on board with us, and we’re certainly looking
to build on that this year.
We strengthened our position in the trade sector thanks to a
mix of exciting new products and impressive service levels, and I
think the official launch of our brand new C70s window system
this month and our upcoming new colour offering will give us
the perfect springboard for 2020.
AluK also did well in the commercial market in 2019, winning
substantial amounts of new work via our project teams and in
partnership with fabricators. That looks set to continue as we
build our reputation for successful collaboration and sustain our
investment in customer support services.
It goes without saying that, for the whole of the construction
sector, both the trade and commercial markets will benefit now
“Clearly there is considerable pent
up demand, and I think we’re likely
to see a surge in activity”
that we have what looks like a clear resolution on Brexit.
We’ve seen how cautious consumers have been in terms
of committing to big ticket purchases, and lots of investment
decisions have been on hold in the commercial market waiting for
what now looks like real political clarity.
Clearly there is considerable pent up demand, and I think we’re
likely to see a surge in activity now which would be good news
for many. However, after such a long period of relatively subdued
market activity, the whole of the fenestration supply chain will
need to make sure it is ready to cope.
Businesses will need to be agile and well funded enough to be
able to flex their capacity in response to what many think could
be a mini ‘Brexit boom’, and there will undoubtedly be challenges
to ride out in the months and years ahead for big and small
businesses alike.
After so many years of investment in the UK and with the
support of the global Valfidus group, AluK has certainly put itself
in a good position to ensure that we can respond to whatever the
market brings.
We’re already seeing an increase in machinery buying amongst
fabricators as they look to increase output or, if they are only in
PVC-U, to try to establish a foothold in aluminium, but it won’t
just be about investment in 2020, as always it will be all about
cashflow.
2019 was a very special
year for all of us at Business
Micros because it was our 40th
anniversary. We made sure that we
celebrated the efforts of our amazing team and the contribution
they have made to our success over the years, whilst also giving
back to the industry which has given us so much by becoming a
main sponsor at the G-19 Awards.
We didn’t spend the whole year celebrating though obviously.
“we saw a 78% increase in spend
from prole companies in the last
We were busy developing the next generation Capture, Register,
Rapport and Courier products which we previewed at the FIT
Show and got an amazing response. These represent a major
transformation of our product offering and will take us into new
sectors of the market as well as targeting existing customers. We’ve
had lots of requests since then from both fabricators and installers
who want to start using the new products straight away and I can
confirm that we will be officially launching them shortly.
We have also been working on a major announcement about
the future of the business and that will also be revealed later this
month.
So, 2020 promises to be another exciting year for Business Micros
and I hope for the wider industry as well – particularly now that
we can finally see an end to all the Brexit uncertainty. We hit record
turnover again in 2019 and a look back through our figures for
last year showed a real sense of confidence and optimism amongst
many of our customers.
For instance, we saw a 78% increase in spend from profile
companies in the last three months of 2019, suggesting that they
are backing their fabricators with new investment. And, we saw a
doubling in the number of support calls from our top tier customers
as they worked with us to integrate big investments in new software
set ups and additional modules.
I expect this pattern to continue in 2020, particularly as we’ll be
stepping up our communications campaign to increase awareness
of both our existing range and new generation products and
continuing our investment in ongoing product development.
www.ggpmag.com January 2020
three months of 2019”
“So, 2020 promises to be another
exciting year for Business Micros
and I hope for the wider industry as
well – particularly now that we can
nally see an end to all the Brexit
uncertainty”
/www.ggpmag.com
