Ultraframe buys Global

Ultraframe has acquired the Global business from Aperture Trading.

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) were included in the sale.

Ultraframe said that sales of Global roofs fell dramatically from circa £30 million around five years ago to a run rate of under £5 million this winter (pre-Covid-19).

“In recent years, there has been a shift away from glass roofs to solid pitched roofs and to flat roof extensions within the home extension market,” the company said. “This market 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 extrusion plant, which has also been mothballed by the administrator. While we will talk to all industry stakeholders to understand the future potential of reintroducing elements of these roofing systems at a later date, relaunching them in the current economic climate is not feasible.

“The Stratus lantern is different, being a much simpler product with just over 100 parts and therefore it is more feasible for Ultraframe to manufacture Stratus from its existing facilities. We hope that with our track record of improving roofing products, and the fact Stratus is a much simpler product, we can restart production of the Stratus lantern soon.” Tim Bateson, restructuring director at KPMG, said: “While we are continuing to market the remaining businesses and assets of the company, we’re delighted to have completed this sale, which will recover value for the company’s creditors.”

After closing the factory at the end of March, in line with government guidelines, Ultraframe plans to reopen on May 11.

“We recognise that volumes may take time to recover and during the first few weeks will be operating with a limited workforce so do expect some changes to normal delivery schedules as we try to respond to unpredictable levels of demand,” the company said.