It's a "joke" that businesses are facing larger costs and more regulation after Brexit and that the º£½ÇÊÓƵ has seen "higher energy cost inflation than any other sizeable economy", a prominent Lancashire businessman has said.
Andy Holt, the founder of What More º£½ÇÊÓƵ and owner of Accrington Stanley, has detailed the challenges his business has faced recently in a self-branded "rant" where he also hit out at what he called "petty back biting" from "our desperate political masters".
The businessman's comments were made in newly-filed accounts with Companies House for 0404 Investments, the parent company of Padium-based What More º£½ÇÊÓƵ which was established by Mr Holt in 1999.
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What More º£½ÇÊÓƵ, which won a Queen's Award for International Trade in 2014, manufactures products under the Wham, Baker & Salt and PushPan brands. It also makes Flesh cleaning products under license from Proctor & Gamble. Mr Holt also took over Accrington Stanley, who play in League Two, in 2015 when the club was at risk of collapse.
The company's latest accounts show the firm's turnover fell from £78.1m to £73m in 2022 while its pre-tax profits were cut from £7.2m to £3.7m. The average number of people employed by the business, however, increased from 421 to 492.
In a statement included in the accounts, Mr Holt said: "2021 saw massive increases in commodity prices, excessive increases, ridiculous increases. Over 100% on raw polymers, 87% in steel, 400% in power.
"For the first half of 2022 we struggled to get enough material at any price. We couldn't pass the increases on in full of there would have been a more sizeable impact on the demand from our customers.
"An example of this was base steel prices which increased 87%. To recover the full amount our selling prices would have had to increase by around 60%.
"We increased 20% initially and this undid our efforts to onshore bakeware from China, who saw no real increases. Some customers reverted to China rather than accept the relatively small increase we asked for.
"So, we ran our stocks down of steel and associated products for the whole of 2022. Our purchases of steel for bakeware dropped 80%, which in turn damaged one of only two suppliers in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ for our specific grades of steel and coatings.
"The company Firststeel Ltd announced closure and redundancies in early 2023; we stepped in and acquired it 100% because it was crucial to our longer-term growth that we have security of supply.
"I started with this because this has been the post-Covid story that º£½ÇÊÓƵ manufacturers have had to weather. It's a joke that in this post-Brexit era we have higher costs and more regulation, not lower.
"It's also a joke that we saw higher energy cost inflation than any other sizeable economy. All we get out of our desperate political masters is petty back biting."
He added: "Meanwhile inflation is higher here than anywhere else; folk are slowly getting skinter."
On the company's outlook, Mr Holt added: "I want to say that our customers are stretched and the man on the street is stretched so profits will be down, blah blah blah, but I'm not. We don't believe anything is impossible and despite the general economic outlook we expect to get back on track on sales volumes over 2023.
"Our new product development, an investment that never stops, supports our growth. We produce better quality products, more efficiently and faster than ever before. Our internet and white label offers are growing at pace.
"There is a risk, even nuclear war so forgive me if I don't start going on about power, which is now hedged for three years. All our risks are mitigated in one way or another and we carry higher stocks temporarily to enable continued great supply to our customer base, many of which have been with us for most of the company's journey.
"A much better 2023 and 2024 is in prospect as our new products and excellent team continue apace."
