About Us

As a design-led specialist flooring company, we believe in growing by doing things differently. We are constantly looking for new ways to please and impress our customers – through our high quality, original products and thoughtful, responsive service.

Seeing healthy returns in our profits and the value we offer our shareholders is essential. This means investing in research and development, logistics and, most importantly, our people.

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What We Do?


As a design-led specialist flooring company, we believe in growing by doing things differently. We are constantly looking for new ways to please and impress our customers – through our high quality, original products and thoughtful, responsive service.

Seeing healthy returns in our profits and the value we offer our shareholders is essential. This means investing in research and development, logistics and, most importantly, our people.

In order to achieve this we have a simple philosophy: to be black and white in everything we do. This runs throughout our business, and we’d like to think it makes us straightforward and easy to work with.

Part of our black and white approach is helping people find the information they need. You can do that here. Thanks for visiting.

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Our Strategy


To develop products that sell: by being close to our customers understanding their needs and designing products with flair that represent class leading value for money.

Exploit the strength of our combined manufacturing and distribution operation: continue to compress the time of order to delivery, and generate margin from the synergies provided by our integrated business. We make all of our products in house.

Deliver robust cash flows: relentlessly pursue efficiency gains throughout the business to improve margin, and target investment in projects with a fast pay back.

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Our Values


In business, the need for clear communication has never been stronger. So at AIREA plc, we have a simple philosophy: to be black and white in everything we do. This runs throughout our business, and we’d like to think it makes us straightforward and easy to work with.

OUR CORE VALUES

HONESTY
A straight forward black and white approach to everything we do.

INNOVATION
Communicated and encouraged across our products, seen in our services and expressed through our people.

SIMPLICITY
An organisational ethos that extends through our business.

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Directors


Martin Toogood – Independent Non-Executive Chairman

Martin Toogood joined the group as an independent non executive director on 1 April 2009, and was appointed independent non-executive chairman on 6 November in the same year. Martin has considerable experience at executive and non-executive level, most recently with ILVA in Scandinavia and the UK, B&Q in the UK, Carpetright in the UK and Europe and Habitat in the UK and internationally.

Médéric Payne joined the Group on the 25th August 2022 as Chief Executive Officer from Al-Futtaim Group based in the Middle East. He has held a number of key international executive roles, notably within Landmark Group as CEO for Homecentre and at Kingfisher plc as CEO for Castorama RU. In his recent role as Managing Director, his main focus has been the growth, turnaround and digital transformation of a number of well-known brands within his retail portfolio in MENA. Médéric has considerable experience in supply chain, sales and innovation in both mature and developing markets.

Ryan Thomas joined the Group on 24 May 2021 and was appointed Group Finance Director and Company Secretary on 11 June 2021 having joined from Eco-Bat Technologies, a producer and recycler of Lead where he held various senior finance positions, most recently he was Finance Director of the European Division. Ryan started his career at PwC and qualified as a certified accountant whilst at PwC.

Airea plc history

History


With origins going back to 1880, the group started life as a spinning business company later to become Sirdar and made its first move into floor coverings through the acquisition of Burmatex in 1984. In 2007 the original spinning business left the group, and the new name of Airea was adopted. From 2007 Airea has been focused on floor coverings.

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Our Markets


Commercial flooring market: Burmatex enjoys a strong and growing brand position. Traditionally identified with the education and public sector in the UK, the expansion of our design capability over a number of years combined with the recent strategic investment in manufacturing technology provides the spring board for extending the product range to new market sectors. New products are developed with the international market in mind. We have a direct sales force in Poland, and a network of agents and distributors covering all major international markets. We are consistently winning major prestige flooring projects, including airports, universities and commercial office space both in the UK and abroad.

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Our Products


Our core brand is burmatex®

burmatex® is one of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers of commercial carpet tiles & planks.

Product ranges span; fibre bonded, structure bonded®, loop pile, cut pile and textured loop pile carpet in sheet, tiles and planks. This is as well as performance barrier systems and entrance matting products.