WHS Halo was formed in 1996 as a result of the merger of W H Smith & Sons (Extrusions) and Halo Systems, two established and quality extrusion businesses. Since then WHS Halo has become one of the largest window extruders in the UK, supplying window profile to an extensive network of fabricators and installers.

WHS Halo is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Bowater Building Products; a company with a British business heritage stretching back to 1881. Bowater Building Products in its current incarnation was formed from a secondary MBO of group companies from a consortia of private equity investors in 2003; the initial MBO – led by Legal & General Ventures and Credit First Suisse Boston – being from Rexam plc in 1999. The secondary MBO was led by the current management team, with the support of 3i.

With a turnover of over £180 million, Bowater is a leading window, door and conservatory player in the UK home improvement market specialising in windows, doors and conservatories into the domestic, public sector and UK new build sectors. The Bowater Building Products group of companies and brands includes WHS Halo, System 10, Eclipse, Eclipse esthétique, Rustique, The Prime Connection, PSID, James Harcourt, New Dawn, Zenith and Staybrite amongst others.

A major UK player in PVC-U extrusion, WHS Halo runs 35 extrusion lines – with two on order – and extruded in the region of 26,500 tonnes in 2005. It has an in-house mixing plant, with guaranteed PVC resin supply, and an in-house lamination programmes. Its lines run on a 24/7 shift basis, servicing a massive 1400 product line range to meet varied customer demand. An annual investment in tooling and maintenance budget of a minimum of £1.5 million pa makes certain that it keeps its customers ahead of the market.

The company also excels in distribution, with a high quality logistics operation being run from its Midpoint facility. On time in full delivery (OTIF) is an impressive 99.7%, with an average order-to-delivery lead-time of only one day. Dedicated customer service co-ordinators are committed to managing flexible and multiple delivery schedules from a 140,000ft2 warehousing facility with over 4300 storage locations. Like extrusion, a 24/7 day shift operation is in place.

Bowater Building Products is also at the forefront of addressing the environmental responsibilities of the wider PVC-U window industry. Among the first to achieve the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, it has pioneered a unique partnership to recycle post consumer PVC-U windows and doors – and has already been involved in a number of recent public sector projects to remove and de-manufacture existing PVC-U windows and doors, which have then been re-cycled and the bi-products returned to the wider supply chain.

The company also has an outstanding history of innovation – being on average four years ahead of its competitors on new product development – examples of which include: production of the first interchangeable window and door system (1987), creation of the first authentic vertical sliding sash window (1995), the first fully sculpted window system (1995), introduction of the first five chamber system in Europe (2000); and being the first to produce a patented hybrid beading system (2004).