Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes Futures

June 2024

This is Steve, joint founder, Director & owner of Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes.

I’m sad to report that we have been finding times hard for a long time, now. The blunt reality is that we’ve been losing money for quite a while. Not much, but still cash going the wrong way and it all adds to the stress and worry that has taken its toll over the long term.

We’ve tried lots of sales-boosting strategies over the last 2+ years and they haven’t turned it around.

We are now actively in the process of shrinking from 3 factory units down to 2.
…And we expect to be shrinking from 2 units down to none around October this year ☹

(The photo shows our manufacturing and despatch base: Units 5 & 6 & 7, Mercian Park, Tamworth, UK)

I told the landlords last summer that I could see a ‘perfect storm’ building against us, and it has got more stormy since then, unfortunately.

My health has been a worry for several years (chronic stress is bad for you, really bad) and it took a turn for the worse after I got COVID (again) back in February.

I told my staff back in January that I expected us to be closing down later this year and since then it’s become definite. There is no choice.

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I spent 3 years training someone to take over from me – so I could retire! – but they had to move away due to personal reasons. That came as a massive shock that happened 2 years ago. My partner, Rosie, incredibly kindly offered to step in to help with admin and marketing and everything else! She has been helping like a trooper and that has gone on for 2 years, now. The wider commercial situation has been deteriorating over that time such that we’ve been struggling even to scrape along. This  further eroded our ability and confidence to recruit and train anyone else. Our sales are about 40% down relative to 2 years ago, plus our costs have been rising inexorably: For example, Heat Treatment in our manufacturing uses gas, and despite appealing, our Business Rates went up 40%!

My team and our suppliers have all been brilliant, but the Cost of Living crisis combined with the Ukraine situation on top of Brexit and COVID have all hit us. (The photo shows my partner Rosie, then Tracy, older brother David, and Andrew, looking much taller than he really is - Blame the photographer!)

I think we can claim to have been the top end of our market for much of our 20-year period, but I don’t want to scrape along in the future, and my health means that would likely be disastrous anyway.

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We have been having discussions about the possibility of another company taking over some of our product range perhaps under a licensing agreement, but nothing is definite at all so far and anything that might come of it will doubtless take time to set up.

If that doesn’t come to anything, it may all fizzle out ☹

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I started this company with my wife, Sarah, in 2003, more than 20 years ago. We have all put in a heck of a lot of hard work over that time. Very sadly, Sarah passed away 6 years ago. It is very sad to be now looking at our business perhaps all coming to an end.

(The photo shows Sarah, in her element down at the Woods, with her camera.)

But my health is important, too, and Rosie and I also want to spend more time taking care of our Alvecote Wood conservation site, something that has been rather neglected over the last few years due to us struggling with the business.

As of now, we have just completed probably the final batches of Protector chains and Shed Shackles, with more RoundLocks and Torc Mega ground anchors nearing completion. No more production is planned beyond that.

We have stock on most of the range now, but that is changing. Indeed, the stock situation could change quite quickly as we make more public announcements. We are doing our best to take care of customers as well as suppliers and staff, as we always have.

Some products have already sold out or are low on stock. If you envisage needing more of our products in the future, it may be wise to place an order ASAP. We are trying to keep the website up to date in terms of stock availability but it is first come, first served.

We are still here, still working and still trying to help our customers old and new.

Thank you to everyone: all our customers, suppliers and partners.

We have stopped an awful lot of thefts along the way :-)
And in fact, we still are! We've supplied well over 40,000 customers and that's a l-o-t of security out there, keeping stuff safe in a variety of countries :-)

Steve.
P.S. We will provide more updates on the News page in due course.
26-Jun-2024