FORT November Newsletter - 2023

The clocks have changed, the trees are getting bare and the weather is awful, but there’s no shortage of cheer here at FORT as we continue to develop and grow, with more to come through November as we give the shop a re-vamp.

Away from the office we were delighted to be invited to Kyle Howarth (captain of the British Speedway Premiership’s champions Sheffield Tigers) sponsors’ dinner and a morning on the gallops with Nicky Henderson looking at the form of Spring Note ahead of the new jump season. We of course wish all of the teams and causes that we support the best of luck in everything that they do!

Despite the awful economic and global state of affairs, there still seems to be decent workloads around for our Customers, but we can sense that things will be slower overall.

Clients appear to be looking for ways to take costs out; there is a lower level of orders and new project pricing. In other words the general indicators seem to be showing a decline in activity, which is not a surprise, with interest rates at higher levels. However, employment is still very high and there are plenty of other positive indicators.

Volume newbuild is where the sharpest declines appear to have occurred, while repair maintenance and improvement continues to hold up reasonably well. Softwood timber represents the vast majority of timber trading and so the last International Softwood Conference was packed full of information that helps to forecast where the market is heading (see Timber below). FORT is still growing and we’ve made a series of improvements to internal operations which will help to maintain our high Customer Service levels. Kitchens & Bathrooms are becoming an increasingly decent proportion of our overall business. With our excellent showroom at Membury, we can help you to assist your clients in selecting the right design and products to give their homes the ‘wow factor’ that they’re looking for.