News around Zenith, Weatherseal and the overall Kairos Group has been sparce at best the past week or so. Much has been said on social media, in particular on Linkedin mostly by national competitors, but little to nothing has come out from the companies or invidivduals involved.

However, a post has appeared online from the Eastern Daily Press, headquartered in Norwich, which appears to shed some light on the sitation.

200 jobs lost

According to the article, a source spoke to the media site to say that 150-200 people had been made redundant across the east of England. Zenith are based in Norwich. Jobs in their call centre and sales are the ones to go according to the report, which would be a clear indication as to the potential future of the business.

If you remember, Zenith was in the news in June when BBC Watchdog investigated Zenith and their sales methods, namely pressuring home owners into buying their products. A tactic the industry is infamously known for.

You can read the EDP post in full here: https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/zenith-home-improvements-collapses-making-norwich-call-centre-redundant-1-6304313

Another article online however paints a much more serious picture. The Times has an article, published on October 6th, stating that as many as 2000 staff from the group of companies may have been sent home.

The Times article goes on to say:

Calls to companies in his Kairos Group, which claims to be one of the UK’s largest privately owned home-improvement operations, went to voicemail on Friday. Cheshire-based Kairos said in a statement that it had stopped taking orders while it “reviewed its options”.

Read the full Times article here

I’m not a subscriber to The Times, so the rest of the article was not available for me to read. However, the last line of that extract is telling. “Reviewing its options” is business speak for a potential sale of the business. In the same way Masco described its approach to selling its window businesses as to “explore strategic alternatives”. Those businesses have since been sold.

Kairos Group, a part of Latium Enterprises who are based in the US and UK, own themselves a number of home improvement companies such as Zenith. The business is large and under it’s umbrella employs thousands of people. As of yet I cannot see any statement from any party involved on their website. I have contacted Kairos Group via their website seeking a statement or press release which could provide some clarity on the situation.

Its also worth noting that on Companies House the status of Kairos Group remains “active” and has not changed since the publication of the EDP or Times articles.

As always, as more information becomes available I will update on DGB.

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