SFE.L Regulatory News (SFE)

11 December 2013

Safestyle UK plc

("Safestyle", the "Group", or the "Company")

First Day of Dealings

Safestyle, the largest retailer and manufacturer of PVCu windows and doors for the UK homeowner replacement market, is pleased to announce that Admission and dealings in its Ordinary Shares commence at 08:00am today on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Following Admission, dealings will commence under the TIDM identifier SFE.

Summary

· Safestyle has placed through a Vendor Placing, a total of 70m ordinary shares with institutional investors at a Placing Price of £1 per share.

· The market capitalisation of Safestyle on Admission at the Placing Price is £77.7m

· The number of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission is 77,777,777

· The management team, led by Stephen Birmingham, who has been with the Company since 1999 and Managing Director since 2007 subsequently becoming the Chief Executive Officer, is continuing with their strategy, first implemented in 2008, of focusing only on the UK homeowner replacement PVCu window and door market in England and Wales.

· This focused strategy has allowed the Company to increase its market share nationally from 4.4 per cent in 2007 to 7.5 per cent in 2012.

Stephen Birmingham, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We have been delighted with the response in our over-subscribed placing and are very pleased to welcome our new investors. The Company has experienced strong growth in a difficult market, driven by the outstanding quality of our product, the focus on executing our strategy and the dedication of our staff.

"As economic conditions continue to improve and as we increase our geographical presence into the South of England we feel confident in a bright and successful future as a PLC."

The Company's Admission Document can be found at: www.safestyleukplc.co.uk 

Enquiries

Introduction

The Safestyle Group is a leading UK-focused retailer and manufacturer of PVCu windows and doors for the homeowner replacement market. The Group's business has grown from its founding in 1992 to become the largest company in the UK homeowner window and door replacement market, manufacturing 232,000 frames in 2012 and carrying out in excess of 50,000 installations.

Information on Safestyle

The Safestyle business commenced trading in January 1993 and was originally formed to provide mortgages for right-to-buy council tenants. Soon after being founded, Safestyle started to move into the installation of replacement windows and doors and become focused on the UK homeowner retail replacement market.

By 2012, the Directors believe that Safestyle had become a well-known national operator with 10 installation depots and 29 sales offices throughout the country, facilitating more than 50,000 installations that year.

Market

Safestyle's market share in the UK homeowner replacement windows and doors market has increased from 4.4 per cent in December 2007 to 7.5 per cent in December 2012, in a market that has declined 35 per cent from its 2007 highpoint.

Assuming a replacement cycle of 20 years for double glazed windows and doors, the potential market is approximately £2.4bn per annum, against a current market of £1.8bn per annum.

Strategy

Safestyle focuses purely on the UK homeowner replacement windows and doors market. This results in a relatively low number of frames per installation and an average cost per installation for the homeowner of approximately £2,700 including VAT in 2012. The total cost per installation is therefore relatively small when compared with installing, for example, a conservatory, making the Group less reliant on customers' ability to finance.

As housing transactions, mortgage approvals and consumer spending in the UK begin to improve, Safestyle stands ready to take advantage of the improving economic situation as the Directors believe it is the lowest cost national retailer and manufacturer of PVCu windows and doors for the UK homeowner replacement market. The Directors further believe that they can achieve market share growth at the expense of smaller installers through increasingly focused marketing spend.

The Directors believe that there remain areas of potential growth, particularly south of the M4. The Company is targeting a further increase in market share with plans to continue to extend its geographic reach further into the South and South East of England.

Details of the Board upon Admission are set out below:

Robert Stephen Halbert BA, FCA (Non-Executive Chairman, aged 55)

Stephen is Chairman of two private companies, United House Group Holdings Limited and Consumer Champion Group Limited and in the last 5 years has been Chairman of GVA Grimley Holdings Limited and a Director of Employment Services Holdings Pty Limited. He worked as a corporate finance partner at KPMG LLP for 15 years until 2008, where he was a member of the Board, and Chairman of the Partnership Remuneration Committee. Within KPMG's corporate finance business Stephen was UK head of M&A and Chairman of their US operations, KPMG Corporate Finance LLC. Prior to KPMG, Stephen was the chief executive officer of a UK quoted construction services business.

Stephen John Birmingham (Chief Executive Officer, aged 55)

Stephen joined Safestyle in 1999 as Group Operation Director and has been with the business for over 14 years, becoming Managing Director of Safestyle Group Holdings in 2007 and subsequently Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Stephen qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981 and in 1983 he moved to a local replacement window company as Finance Director.

Michael John Robinson FCMA (Chief Financial Officer, aged 52)

Mike joined Safestyle in 2008 after 19 years board level experience in a wide range of businesses. After training and qualifying as an accountant with Rowntree Mackintosh in 1986 he spent 13 years with RR Donnelley, a Fortune 500 company, where he progressed from management accountant to

UK Finance Director.

Christopher John Davies, (Non-Executive Director, aged 59)

Chris has extensive operational and M&A experience in manufacturing and distribution businesses. Starting at British Steel as a graduate and subsequently holding sales and general management positions there and also at British Oxygen and Thyssen. He spent the latter part of his executive career at SIG Plc, which he joined in 1994 as a General Manager in the UK Insulation business, before moving on to more senior positions within the group. He became Managing Director of European Operations in 2001, an Executive Director of SIG plc in 2007, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2008 and Chief Executive Officer from July 2008 until his retirement in March 2013.