46 | MAY 2020
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
Public Announcement Aperture Including Administrator Announcement
Update:
Administration of
Aperture Trading
Limited - 4th
May 2020
Following appointment
on 16 March 2020 as joint
administrators of Aperture
Trading Limited, Chris Pole
and Will Wright from KP-
MG’s Restructuring practice
have confirmed that they
have sold certain assets of
the company to Altrincham
Doors Limited and Altrin-
cham Roofs Limited.
The assets included in
the sale related to the Glob-
al, Celsius and Stratus roof-
ing products. Whilst these
businesses had ceased
trading prior to the acqui-
sition, the purchasers have
indicated an intention to
launch the Stratus product
in the near future as well
as exploring the reintroduc-
tion of the other roofing
systems at a later date.
Statement from
the Buyers - 4th
May 2020
Ultraframe has acquired
from the administrators of
Aperture Trading Limit-
ed, certain of the assets
relating to the Global,
Celsius and Stratus roofing
products, including the
tools and equipment but
excluding others, such as
the customer or supply
arrangements.
By way of background,
the Synseal business failed
in March 2019, with its
business being bought
out of administration by
Aperture Trading Ltd. A
year later, despite this fresh
start, the business failed a
second time going into ad-
ministration again in March
2020. This time no buyer
was found for the whole
business nor was a buyer
found for any of the roof
businesses as continuing
enterprises. The business-
es were wound down and
ceased trading some time
prior to the sale.
We note that the sales of
Global roofs had fallen dra-
matically from annual sales
of c.£30m around 5 years
ago to a run rate of under
£5m this winter, pre Cov-
id-19. In recent years, there
has been a shift away from
glass roofs to solid pitched
roofs and to flat roof ex-
tensions within the home
extension market. This mar-
ket trend accounts for some
of the decline of the Global
roof although the scale of
its decline is symptomatic
of more fundamental issues
within the wider Global
product offer.
The Celsius and Global
roofs are complex systems
with the Global roof having
around 2,000 parts. A large
amount of Global parts
were extruded or sourced
from the Huthwaite ex-
trusion plant, which has
also been mothballed by
the Administrator. While
we will talk to all industry
stakeholders to understand
the future potential of rein-
troducing elements of these
roofing systems at a later
date, relaunching them in
the current economic cli-
mate is not feasible.
The Stratus lantern is
different, being a much
simpler product with just
over 100 parts and there-
fore it is more feasible for
Ultraframe to manufacture
Stratus from its existing
facilities. We hope that with
our track record of improv-
ing roofing products, and
the fact Stratus is a much
simpler product, we can
restart production of the
Stratus lantern soon.
WE SHOULD ALL LEARN FROM APERTURE
TRADING’S DEMISE SAYS BARRACLOUGH
Following the announcement of the failure of systems
manufacturer Aperture Trading Ltd, Quickslide chairman
Adrian Barraclough says we can learn much for the
current times from the demise of the company.
“Quickslide was a business
partner of Aperture Trading both
as a supplier and customer so
we were well acquainted with
the business and the issues that
it faced,” says Adrian. “However,
we were also a trading partner
of Synseal, the business from
which Aperture was formed and
it’s worth bearing in mind the
qualities that company was based
upon and which made it such
a success in the early days: and
why in due course it went so
wrong.”
Synseal is widely credited as
being an industry ‘disrupter’ when
it brought its first products to
market. Says Adrian: “In the hands
of the company’s founder Gary
Dutton and his team, Synseal dis-
rupted the market not simply by
undercutting everyone - although
initially this was a significant
factor - but over time the com-
pany grew and took a significant
share of the UK window and door
business for itself by showing a
number of admirable qualities.
“For any business to survive, let
alone prosper, in normal trading
conditions these qualities include
good cash reserves, sound finan-
cial control, continuous invest-
ment, innovative and imaginative
thinking, a dynamic, structured
management, great products, a
companies
‘ that
show the
qualities upon
which Synseal was
based will be the
ones that get us
through this crisis
’
dedicated workforce from the
cleaners to the senior managers;
and crucially, shareholders that
care passionately about and who
are involved with the business on
a day to day basis.
“Sadly, as Synseal in recent
years and then finally as Aper-
ture, these key qualities dimin-
ished until all that remained at
the end was the dedication of the
workforce, many of whom I had
come to know personally and to
whom my deepest sympathies
are extended.
“My point is that during the
extraordinary circumstances
being imposed on all of us dur-
ing the coronavirus emergency,
companies that show the qual-
ities upon which Synseal was
based will be the ones that get
us through this crisis. I believe
passionately in those strengths
and they remain at the core of
everything that we believe in
and do at Quickslide.
“We will continue to seek part-
nerships with companies – sup-
pliers and customers – that also
share those attributes because
they are the qualities that will not
only help to sustain each of us
in the short term, they will also
enable us to flourish when things
return to normal, as they certain-
ly will.”
www.quickslide.co.uk