The impact of coronavirus has been very different for the commercial and residential markets. More used to hearing of a north vs south divide, a different kind of gap is emerging in the UK pool market, with the residential and commercial pool water leisure sectors experiencing completely diverse issues. Covid-19 fortunes have favoured the home pool markets with stay-at-home customers keen to invest and reinvest in home leisure. Some established companies report order books so full, they are taking deposits for new home builds, as well as refurbishments, into 2022. In comparison with a third enforced lockdown, the stop-start experience of the commercial pool sector, from local authority to holiday parks, has left suppliers seeing orders dry up.With a significant percentage of public pools not re-opening at all, forecasts remain pessimistic and it is impossible to predict when the sector will return to an even keel. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), a record number of small business owners are planning to close their firms over the coming 12 months, putting the UK on course to lose more than a quarter of a million businesses.
CLOSURE THREATS
Just under 5% of the 1,400 firms surveyed for the study say they expect to close this year. The figure does not reflect the threat of closure faced by those hoping to survive despite having frozen their operations, reduced headcounts or taken on significant debt. Close to a quarter (23%) of small firms have decreased the number of people they employ over the last quarter, up from 13% at the beginning of last year. One in seven (14%) say they will be forced to cut numbers over the next three months. With the added complication of Brexit, almost half (49%) of exporters expect international sales to drop this quarter, say the FSB. Although many of the multi-national companies Pool & Spa Scene has talked to, say Brexit impacts have not been as hard as predicted and orders continue to be healthy. FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry said: “At the outset of the first national lockdown, the UK Government was bold. “The support mechanisms put in place weren’t perfect, but they were an exceptionally good starting point. That’s why it’s so disappointing that it’s met this lockdown with a whimper. “There are meaningful lifelines for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses, which are very welcome as far as they go. But this Government needs to realise that the small business community is much bigger than these three sectors. “Company directors, the newly self- employed, those in supply chains, and those without commercial premises are still being left out in the cold.”
“THIS GOVERNMENT CAN STEM LOSSES AND PROTECT THE BUSINESSES OF THE FUTURE, BUT ONLY IF IT ACTS NOW”.
