Safestyle UK requests that its shares are temporarily suspended from trading on AIM

In a statement issued on Thursday, Safestyle said that based on discussions to date, the company did not expect to be in receipt of a capital injection or new financing into Safestyle. However, it said the directors were in active discussions with a shortlist of interested parties as part of the process.

In a statement for investors, the company said on Friday: “Safestyle UK plc provides the following update to its announcement of 26 October 2023 in relation to the process it has been undertaking to try and secure a proposed sale, as that term is defined in that announcement.

“As negotiations progress with interested parties, it has become increasingly unlikely, in the reasonable belief of the directors of Safestyle, that any proposed sale, even if it was completed, will result in any return to shareholders.

The statement added: “Due to the ongoing financial uncertainty regarding the group, its limited working capital and the circumstances noted above, the company has requested that its shares are suspended from trading on AIM with effect from 7.30am on 27 October 2023.

“Further announcements will be made as and when appropriate.”

At Safestyle’s interim results, which were published in late September, the company said the trading context of the UK economy and consumer confidence remained extremely difficult.

It added: “Encouragingly, inflation is beginning to show some signs of moderating, but that follows a period of sustained high inflation. The impact of significantly higher interest rates than expected is clearly impacting consumers' disposable income.

“As reported in our trading update on 19 September 2023, whilst our order intake went according to plan in early August, the period since mid-August has been challenging with independent indicators of market health, such as online search activity, showing that the current market is performing at circa 24 per cent below the July and August levels of 2022. Pleasingly, our order intake has not fallen this far, being down circa 11 per cent YoY (year on year) which shows our product offering is withstanding wider market pressures better than others.”

Commenting on the results, Rob Neale, the CEO, said in late September:

"As has been widely reported, the first half of 2023 saw continued economic uncertainty and depressed consumer confidence, which resulted in another challenging period for the business.”

Mr Neale said the business had continued to work hard to mitigate these ongoing headwinds and remained focused on delivering on its strategic efficiency and cost reduction programme.