Door supplies: Gosport

The windows and doors industry comprises several types of companies, ranging from small local installers to those larger businesses with national coverage. As well as window fabricators there are companies making profiles and hardware, which are in turn sold to fabricators.

The market in 2009 was estimated to be worth approximately £5.63 billion, with the main sector focused on the use of plastics (PVC U materials specifically) rather than wood.

Despite the apparent size of the industry, windows and door suppliers rely heavily on the buoyancy of the housing market and other areas of construction, including commercial property repair and maintenance. But with a slowdown in the residential property market, and the domestic ‘replacement’ market also under pressure, work is often in short supply.

The business environment is at best ‘difficult’, even for the established players, and for those who fail to manage their cashflow effectively, it can sometimes prove fatal. And so it proved for one south coast-based PVC window and door supplier firm, JDW Systems Limited.

JDW was a successful business that turned over more than £3 million, operating from a trading estate on the Ordnance Business Park in Gosport. Despite its size, it lost sight of its cash position and accrued significant debts, obliging it to call for help turning the business around.

SFP’s Simon and Daniel Plant – both licensed members of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association (IPA) – were appointed Joint Administrators on 27th March 2012. Despite intense negotiations with a number of interested parties, they were unable to find a buyer for the business, and it has since closed.