Hull's holiday home market booms as Willerby on track for record year

Year-on-year sales at Willerby were up 12.7 per cent in the financial year to September 2017, and last year saw turnover rise to almost £150m.

The manufacturing giant, which employs more than 1,000 people in Hull, is on track to hit £180m of sales in 2018 – a record for the company.

Willerby’s CEO Peter Munk said: “A pivotal past 12 months has seen the business enjoy staggering financial growth and ground-breaking innovations coming into realisation - thanks to a skilled and dedicated workforce and absolute focus on the needs and desires of our customers.

We are delighted with the performance. Since 2014, sales have risen from £100m to £166m, and we are on track to deliver £180m sales in 2018.”

The region’s holiday home industry has enjoyed an impressive start to 2018. Fellow Driffield company Bankside Patterson, which makes chassis for holiday homes and lodges, was recently named as one of the London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain.

Cottingham-based Swift Group announced a record turnover of £273m in March, as the sector continues to boom.

A key driver in Willerby’s continued growth has been its investment in capital equipment in its factory. The investment has helped boost capacity and increase outputs, which supported an improved EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of more than £15m.

Willerby has also pumped £1.4m into factory improvements, including new machinery and production lines, as well as IT systems and hardware improvements.

Up to 35 holiday homes and lodges leave the Hull site every day – totalling more than 8,500 a year.

In 2016, Willerby’s annual turnover was £147m, and in 2017 it reached £166m. The continued growth has been such that almost 200 new jobs have been created within the past two years.

Another major development for Willerby has been the opening of its second showground - a 6,000sqm site - in Hull in autumn 2017.