Economic Woe Tightening It's Grip

Details released by Insight Data show that they have quarantined 847 companies which have changed their details, moved or have become completely unreachable.


For all the efforts made by companies to stay afloat, the dire trading conditions are obviously still proving too much for many to handle. My feeling is that more than 847 companies will have disappeared this year. 


Over the past year I've made a conscious effort to keep these posts more positive. I've always believed that if we were more positive about the outlook then maybe we could help push the industry into more positive territory. But over the last few weeks, with feedback from our sector becoming ever more negative, with Europe in economic meltdown and our recovery slower than after the Great Depression, I can't help but feel we are all going to be in for a very few tough years ahead. With many more double glazing companies set to hit the wall.


So what can be done to help prop up an industry which is practically on life support? Well, not that much to be honest. Public confidence in spending is in the gutter. I could say that banks could help out by lending more, but their lending policies at the moment are so tight they make Yorkshire folk look more generous! The Green Deal is still a year off, and even so, I think that most of the business created by that will be swallowed up by some of the major national companies muscling their way in, so we'll be left to fight over the scraps.


The window industry is in a funny old position right now. We have the best windows ever made right now, we have the highest energy ratings - with energy conservation high on people's agendas, the logical outcome would be for the industry to be boosted. But we've arrived at this point at a bad time. Anemic financial health has stopped any potential boost in it's path. Just think how much money our sector would have made 5-10 years ago with all the products at our disposal now!