Bad news keeps rolling in for Safestyle as HSE slaps it with £850k fine

Following profit warnings in December and February, there was more bad news for Safestyle on Tuesday as the Health & Safety Executive slapped the double glazing group with an £850,000 fine relating to an incident in which one of its contractors suffered an injury.

The company had already disclosed in its final results last month that there had been two incidents last year involving installations at height which led to injuries, and that it may be fined.

While the investigation into one of the incidents is ongoing, following a court case into the other, which led to a knee injury for one its contractors, Safestyle's fine - which the HSE had originally said would be between £550,000 and £2.9m - was reduced in light of the company's guilty plea and full cooperation.

Safestyle said it will pay the fine in the next two weeks from existing cash resources.

An update on the other incident that is still being investigated will be provided as and when appropriate.

Hot on the heels of a warning in December, Safestyle cautioned in February that revenues and underlying profits for 2018 would be materially below the previous year's levels and current market expectations, as the market continues to deteriorate.

The company had already said at the end of last year that it had seen a continuing deterioration in the market on the back of declining consumer confidence and that conditions in 2018 were likely to be continue to be "very challenging".

At 1545 BST, the shares were up 3.4% to 82.72p.