Howdens to repay £22m furlough money
Howden Joinery intends to repay £22 million it received in the first half of its financial year under the UK Government's Job Retention Scheme before the end of 2020.
Between June14 and the end of October, Howdens, which has depots across the West Midlands, trading has improved significantly.
Results for the first half of the year were hit by the disruption caused by lockdown
UK depots' total revenue since June 14 increased by 12.3 per cent, but for the year to date is 6.8 per cent below that for 2019.
No claims have been made under the furlough scheme in the second half.
The company also intends to repay around £8m of business rates that were waived by some local councils. Other deferred payments, such as taxes and pension deficit contributions, will also be made before the end of the year.
Howdens expects to open a total of around 15 depots in the UK in 2020, taking the total number of depots in the UK to around 747, and to refurbish around 30 older depots to the updated format.
Chief executive Andrew Livingston, said: "Covid-19 has had a significant impact on all of our lives and Howdens' priority remains ensuring that our employees and customers are safe and supported. We have also found new ways of working so that we can manufacture safely in a socially distanced environment and, together with our suppliers, ensure stock availability to support customer needs."
