During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will not be “business as usual” but we are committed to managing our business as best we can. We are all working hard to support each other and the company during these unprecedented times, and our leadership team is working to keep colleagues informed as the situation evolves.
Here are some key points, as outlined in this week’s Communications Call, correct as of this morning, Friday, 20 March.
• Personal health is our number one priority
• The business is in a good position, with no debt and therefore no interest or capital to repay
• Customers are likely to be acting with caution and we expect a downturn in orders and sales
• Cash is always crucial but now more than ever we will focus on cash generation and preservation to buffer against future uncertainties
• We must focus on collecting everything that is due, resolving queries speedily and being firm on payment terms
• The Distribution Centre at Armitage is open as normal, with measures in place
We have put measures in place to ensure we remain in good shape to face the next few months of uncertainty. These include:
• Finding new sales opportunities to provide security to customer supply chains
• Limiting travel and spending to business-critical activities
• Deferring marketing and capital expenditure
• Reviewing all discretionary spend – please consider whether any spending is business-critical
• Phasing upfront payments into instalments
Further to this, we may require people to cover business-critical roles during this period where we have high risk should someone be unable to work for a period.
In order to manage the impact on our business, procurement are monitoring daily external vendors’ output and any risks in interruption of supply and availability; manufacturing and the SOIP team are closely monitoring any risks in production which may impact output and availability, and; the group supply chain team are working together to understand any product supply issues from all the supply locations, any potential issues within the distribution centres and cross-border transport network.
Finally, we are pulling together a contingency plan within manufacturing to cover multiple risk scenarios within the business.
Remember, you can access confidential advice for personal and financial wellbeing through the UNUM employee assistance website, with the username unum and password lifeworks. Alternatively, call 0800 048 2702