The UK’s largest shopfitter Styles & Wood is to make almost a quarter of its head office workforce redundant in a move calculated to bring the company’s cost base into line with the shrinking requirements of its UK retail clients.
The company, which issued a profit warning last week, is expected to announce this week that about 50 staff at its Altrincham head office will lose their jobs.
Styles & Wood specialises in fitting out new stores for retailers and has been hit hard by falling demand since the early part of this year, as clients including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Argos and Homebase have begun to rein in new spend on their property portfolios.
Styles & Wood chief executive Ivan McKeever said: “It’s a challenging market right now and we do operate almost entirely within the retail sector. I think a£230 million business generating more than£4 million profits before tax is not a bad business.”
The shopfitter – one of few that is quoted publicly – has seen its share price almost half within the past fortnight, plummeting to 12.25p on Friday. This is a fraction of the£1.72 that the shares were changing hands for 12 months ago.
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