December is always an extremely busy period, as we prepare for the Christmas break while simultaneously working hard to meet our targets for the year. It is also a natural time to reflect on the past 12 months and to look ahead to what 2019 has in store for us.
First of all, I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope the festive period brings you happiness and good times with family and friends. Thank you so much for your efforts in what has been a very challenging year. We have faced many headwinds – some predicted and some unexpected – and we have overcome them by working together. Every team in every department, every colleague at every level has contributed to what promises to be a successful year for the UK and Ireland cluster.
At this point, I am delighted to say that we are on course to hit our AOP (Annual Operating Plan) for the UK Cluster this year. With three days of shipping still to go, we have some work yet to do but everything is in place for us to achieve this figure.
This is a truly outstanding achievement, given the slower than expected start to the year. If you cast your minds back beyond the sweltering summer, the Beast from the East, Storm Emma and their friends conspired to make January and February even tougher than we predicted. This unusually cold weather which lasted well into March had a paralysing effect on the UK’s transport infrastructure which put us on the back foot in 2019 from the word go.
To battle back from that beginning to the position we are in now is something we should all be very proud of. Not only did we face difficulties at the start of the year but as the months have continued, we have been affected by the uncertainties caused by Brexit and the very large reduction in orders from Wolseley, our biggest single customer for many years, among other issues.
But there will always be something which ruins our best laid plans. What matters most is how we respond as a business and clearly Ideal Standard UK has responded to this year’s challenges very well indeed. Our channel broadening strategy – exemplified by our new partnerships such as VictoriaPlum.com – has started to pay dividends and we are becoming more resilient as a company. The introduction of a new warehouse management system has improved the capacity and efficiency of our logistics operations and there has been some excellent taking share activity by our sales colleagues. There have been so many examples of brilliant work across the company that it’s impossible to mention them all here.
On a personal note, I am very pleased that my first full year in role has come to a successful conclusion. I am looking forward to meeting and working with more of you in 2019 and to the challenges, both expected and unexpected, that the new year will bring. Once again, thank you for all your hard work in 2018.
Wishing you a restful Christmas break and a happy new year.
Stephen.