To all Skylux partners/employees

First of all, I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year, may 2022 be a fantastic year full of joy and fun with good health, surrounded by loving family and friends. They are ideal basic ingredients to make it another wonderful year, despite the Covid consequences that still haunt the world. We consider ourselves fortunate that we are active in a sector that has been prospering for many years and we sympathize with sectors and companies that are having a hard time. Like many, we have had a challenging year, nevertheless several records were broken again. I would like to thank everyone for that, for your efforts and dedication every day. The future is becoming even more challenging, as history has shown, due to increasing competition, today also due to the disruption in global raw materials supply, unprecedented price increases and increasing delivery times.?

The transition of the year is an ideal time to look back and ahead. Looking back on the past few years and looking ahead to the challenges and the direction for the coming years. To start with, my father's sudden death in 2014 is considered by many to be a turning point in the company's history. It symbolizes the end of the AG Plastics era and the beginning of the 3rd generation story, with the company name being changed to Skylux . A brand name that we can build on for the future. AG Plastics and Skylux, two different companies still sharing the same genes despite the transformation. A team and company of which I am still very proud to this day.

Another important family turning point was the loss of our 8-month-old son Georges in July 2018, who inspired us to establish the Georges Foundation . A non-profit organization that stands for supporting mothers and fathers with young children in need. Thanks to all for the support in the form of (winter) clothing, toys, social media posts, word of mouth and beautifully decorated gingerbread houses! Big gestures are often contained in small gifts, supporting fellow people in difficulty gives great satisfaction to the giver and much more to the recipient.?

“always aim for the moon, even if you miss you'll end up among the stars”?

Effective mission, vision and execution is fundamental to surpassing the superlative, again. With the name change, we want to make it clear to everyone that the mission is being sharpened even more. Skylux stands for “light from heaven” and in one word encompasses the new future mission and vision. The sun is an essential source of energy for people and the planet and is our WHY, Skylux chooses to bring daylight to people's homes "via the sloping and flat roof". It is an important addition to, and more efficient than daylight via the facade. With the butterfly project – perhaps not yet known to everyone, this will change in the coming weeks and months – we want to encourage Skylux and all employees to develop further, like a butterfly. In physics, the term “chrysalis” is often used as a synonym for emerging. The Greta Oto (Large Red-belted Clearwing) was chosen not by chance, it will serve as the new Skylux mascot and will be integrated in all future marketing campaigns. It fits seamlessly with the freshness and frivolity of the crystal clear Skylux daylight products ??

A new generation, a new era and a sharpened mission require a new market approach. She was born with a smartphone and internet, always and everywhere connected. The expectations of young life are higher, new ways of working together are sought. Commercial services from a classical point of view need to be reinvented. Young people have less patience than their ancestors and look at life in a different way, they expect quick and effective answers, they want immediate and on-site help. Brands that respond to this and exceed these expectations that do not always seem realistic are not questioned, they surpass the competition in speed and grow into the new "category kings".

An example of this in the Dutch retail sector is the recent collaboration between the supermarket chain Jumbo and the Berlin express courier service Gorillas. They deliver groceries ordered via smartphone app within a few minutes at the door of Utrecht consumers for a fixed price of € 1.80. In order to put innovation and new products on the market in the current era and thus continue to grow, there is a need for new channels, possibilities, knowledge and techniques. This also applies to the construction industry, where just as in retail there is a greater need for innovative ideas and new partnerships.

“You either win or you learn”?

Thinking out-of-the-box, outside the routine of the daily job, and thereby gaining progressive insight. The world is evolving rapidly and it is essential to stimulate developments, individually, in a team, at product and process level and at an increasing pace. New projects and ideas will not always succeed,

at the very least valuable lessons are learned. Learning from and with each other and accelerating developments.

Classic media channels (TV, radio, etc) have been under pressure for years, content is streamed via mobile devices. Applications such as Spotify, Youtube , Facebook , Instagram , Whatsapp, Tiktok, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV (the list seems endless), e-commerce platforms such as Bol.com, Coolblue, Zalando, Amazon (also an endless list) not to mention travel platforms such as Booking.com, Airbnb and taxi platforms such as Uber or Didi. These are the new “category kings”, thanks in part to a direct connection with the end consumer. In recent decades, we witnessed the emergence of a gigantic, global, digital ecosystem where the boundary between consumer electronics, streaming platforms, e-commerce platforms and new media became increasingly thin. They thrive on search querys, free advertising models, personalized offers, information exchange about (surfing) behaviour, personal data and consumer feedback.

“The desire to win needs to be greater than the fear of losing”?

Word of mouth remains the most effective way to generate interest from other potential buyers. By means of online reviews on search platforms such as Google , also on blogs and web shops, this is now 100% digital. There is enormous potential in creating a digital connection with the end customer, whereby he or she develops into an ambassador for a brand. Since the inception of the Internet, we have all been given a medium through which we can express our opinion en masse, in fact we are asked about it every time we use it and that feedback is used to improve interaction with other customers. Algorithms ensure that brands, products and services that are regularly advertised as worth buying online automatically appear prominently at the top of the results in search querys by and for other potential buyers. The consequences of this are great, the growth potential even greater.

Thanks to such a digital approach, every satisfied customer can create a multitude of new customers, provided that the brand does the right things that are important for that one customer. This will be one of the main challenges in the coming years. Looking for and creating new, innovative partnerships to increase the end customer's commitment to the Skylux brand by a factor of 10 in an organic way. It will be an exciting adventure again if everyone believes and does everything they can to take the teamwork and ingenuity to the next level. Thanks again for your efforts over the past year and looking forward to the surprises that 2022 has in store, and the many beautiful moments that we will hopefully experience together.

The main priorities for Skylux in the coming years:

1/ Safe, sustainable and ecological entrepreneurship

2/ Flat roof windows, sloping roof windows, patio roofs

3/ Automation and digitization in production and administration (paperless)

4/ Digital connection and feedback culture with a satisfied end customer as the ultimate goal

See you soon!

Jean?