COMMENT
Retail installation business, Clearview Home Improvements, has reported
nearly £m of sales in a single month for the fi rst time in its 12-year history. Just
short of £m in June, “% greater than its previous best.
Fuelled by demand for fl ush windows and doors and colour, Deceuninck has
revealed that sales are up ’Ÿ% year on year for June.
Similarly, Ultraframe, while not divulging sales fi gures, has said that web
traffi c from homeowners is up by ¢8% and leads from Ultra Installers up by
8Ÿ%.
Hampshire home improvement specialist, KJM Group, has reported four
times the normal level of homeowner enquiry since returning to work in May.
Morley Glass & Glazing has seen a Ÿ% increase in production, and
Roseview has said that it experienced ‘back to normal’ levels of enquiries by
mid-April, and above expectations by ’’ May when it reopened. It adds that
there are no signs of this slowing down.
Business Pilot fi gures show retail sales are ¨6% on up May and Ÿ6% up on
April.
Incredible fi gures for sure, but is it all sustainable? In all honesty, probably not
at this level, but after the stress of lockdown – well, as the old saying goes, 'make
hay while the sun shines.'
FROM
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When the email from Customade’s David Leng fi nally arrived on
June, outlining a deal to buy the majority of the Group out
of administration, it came as no great surprise.
I say fi nally, because the Group had already posted a notice
on its website the Friday before – although this was mysteriously taken down
the next day, prompting some speculation that investors had got cold feet –
but prior to that, reports that it was struggling, and indeed the actual ‘for sale’
documents, had been widely circulated for some time.
What was a little surprising however, was the strength of the reaction from
the industry. Calling it an ‘acquisition’ probably didn’t help, and PR that majored
on the retention of so many jobs when suppliers will now have to shoulder the
burden of un paid bills, did not go down well either.
The outrage spilled over onto social media channels. And while, under
normal circumstances, it would be relatively easy to recover from angry Tweets
or LinkedIn posts by simply ignoring them, the barrage against Customade and
its CEO has taken a considerable amount of time to subside.
Ultimately, will it just be business as usual once the furore has died down?
Well, for Veka to post publicly that it will not be supporting the Group in the
future, suggests that maybe, just maybe, this could be a phoenix too far…
Now, I don’t want to dwell too much on the Customade Group – we have
more comment in this issue on pages ’“ and 68 – because I also want to put
aside some space to mention more positive news, specifi cally that of a retail
sales boom, and record sales. Here are just a few examples;
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