Lessons in Lockdown

Unprecedented - the word I have heard more than any other during the Great 2020 Lockdown. Here we are on the last day of April 2020 where Colonel Tom Moore (he was promoted to Colonel from Captain on his 100th Birthday) reached an absolutely staggering ￡30,000,000 milestone for his amazing achievement of walking 100 laps of his garden. A true Hero this man (and proud Yorkshireman too!).

To me it's not necessarily what he has done by doing 100 laps of his garden, but more what he represents. That spirit of resolute determination to show support for those people that matter over and above our own needs. A brave man serving the country in the WWII and now trying to recognise and support those heroes on the front line whether they be NHS staff, carers, refuse collectors, shop staff, drivers, warehouse staff - the list goes on.

I have seen many (most?) of the "renowned" journalists taking constant jibes at the key people who are trying to get the UK through this crisis both on a humanitarian level but also on an economic level too. A recent tweet by Alan Sugar really summed up my thoughts on that. The media has a lot to answer for - they have a huge role to play in helping the country to unravel some of the medical, scientific, economic and ethical conundrums that this lockdown presents to us all. I agree the Government should be held to account but also the journalists should understand who orders the PPE and that this is a highly technical situation and they are working day and night to try and resolve this.

I say all, I have also felt significantly disappointed at the behaviour of an increasing number of the public who clearly think that they are immune to the virus (unlikely) and that the rules do not apply to them (they do). I feel for the Police and other front line staff too - they have an increasingly difficult job to do as certain sections of society feel the need to verbally (and physically) abuse them and the rules of lockdown have really exacerbated this situation. Stay Home and Protect the NHS - its not rocket science!

Mr Sunak has shown great strength and some creativity to try and ensure that the wheels of industry do not totally stop turning. The furlough scheme is working for a good proportion of people and is helping to try and avoid mass lay offs - it can't continue forever. The grant scheme is good for businesses in the retail and hospitality area (as clearly much of this industry was in turmoil prior to Lockdown) - this has just accelerated the demise of some big names.

A major part of the UK Economy are the SME's that have fallen between the cracks - those that employ over 10m collectively in the UK, they may be high growth companies (like mine) that have invested heavily in people, systems, locations, training, technology and equipment for a long term vision. The Banks typically have offered the Umbrella when the Sun is cracking the flags. The latest scheme which is launched in early May with 100% loan guarantee should help.

I am surprised at the speed at which some major organisations that have either already gone into administration or even liquidation like some of the major High Street Brands Debenhams, Carluccios, BrightHouse but also companies like Virgin and BA that need massive restructuring and cash injections to stay afloat. Aston Martin too over extended themselves and have been bailed out by a consortium who also triggered a further buyout clause when Covid 19 started to bite.

Intu - the shopping centre company that runs Trafford Centre and Lakeside (and many more) were already in trouble before lockdown - 30% of retailers paying their rent for Q2 wont have helped either. Ford were threatening bankruptcy prior to lockdown too.

This list will just get bigger as companies that have either over leveraged or other companies with not enough free cash to survive will just go under. Clearly some companies have changed their model where they can to survive the situation. Some are unable to do go back for some time - even when we are allowed to go back to pubs and restaurants, are we going to do it - Covid is around for some time to come - the 2m rule (some countries 1.5m) would rarely work in some of the smaller places and some of the larger ones, halving their footfall and reduced heads around tables wouldn't make their models work.

Wetherspoons has received negative press over the last few weeks, as has Virgin (some of it valid some not IMHO) - I hear of lots of my friends and colleagues who are watching very carefully as to how companies treat their staff and suppliers during this period and will decide whether to give those companies custom in the future. Your style of operation and business culture should not change because of Covid 19, our largest client has proven that to me - when we closed the doors on our 6 sites at the start of lockdown, we had a rather large outstanding amount due to us from our corporate clients. They delivered. They paid us on time and in full. Unlike some other companies that are offering either 80% to guarantee payment or alternatively, cancelling orders made months ago which will tip some companies over the edge.

Many of our competitors have been working (under the radar) during this lockdown which I find to be in total contravention of the rules the Government set down. At Reep Automotive Group, APM Customs and Gtechniq, we have followed the rules to the letter and have a robust plan to return to work when we are able whilst protecting our people, our clients and our partners.

I have been working from home, planning for the future, keeping in touch with family, friends, staff, partners, clients. My wife and I have chatted more than in the last 25 years together. We have created groups of old friends to catch up again. We have created a new way of working through Zoom and/or Microsoft Teams and I have even managed to get my nearly 80 year old mother on Face Time! My parents and I speak more now than we have ever done which is great - I'm even doing their shopping on a Friday and then having a safe distance chat with them to make sure they are ok whilst dropping off their bread, cakes and sardines!

I volunteered for the NHS too few weeks ago and downloaded the app - they are clearly oversubscribed as despite being on the NHS app since day one, they haven't needed me but I am still logging on every day to go on duty - I'm there if you need me NHS! I live in a beautiful village called Ripley near Harrogate, the staff at the castle looks after much of the greenery in the village including a huge lawn area with meadow flowers - all 120+ staff are furloughed currently so I recently stepped up and cut the lawn for the villagers (that wouldn't have happened 6 months ago as I would have quoted the "too busy" excuse).

I'm more relaxed, I'm thinking more clearly, I'm sleeping better, I'm listening more, I appreciate the sunshine, I appreciate the rain, I'm chatting with the cat too!

Our business enhances and protects premium, luxury and supercars with high grade ceramic, wax and Paint Protection Film and we have sites across the UK. We also help our dealer clients to drive profit from the transaction whilst ensuring the customer is delighted - trust me, when we have finished with the new car the customer is delighted!

We are adding BioCote treatment to our offering to help with cleanliness when handing a car back - even when a car goes from the Factory to the dealership and then is handed over to the customer, it will have seen over 30 pairs of hands during that journey - we can help with that too.

Myself, the management team and the staff cannot wait to go back - not because they have been locked in necessarily but more because we absolutely love what we do.

But what are my Lessons in Lockdown?

Video Meetings

The emergence of Zoom and Microsoft Teams has been a revelation. I will be using more of this in my day to day life - less 14 hour days in the car where I have been travelling excessively to ensure that I see clients face to face. This will not stop entirely as sometimes this is an integral part of the relationship journey but more often than not, we can have a perfectly adequate and functioning meeting on video that gets the job done (for both parties).

I also have seen an improvement in the relationship between our key team on Zoom - we speak more regularly and do not let "business" get in the way - it has freed up so many things that historically we would struggle to do without 2 or 3 passes at it. Excellent.

Cash is King

We have never been a business that has borrowings or loans etc. Yes we have buildings to pay for and people but other than that, everything else we have done has been driven via the business so our fixed costs have been managed well. The market for us stopped virtually overnight as demand for what we do disappeared as the dealers closed, manufacturing closed down and we were unable to do what we do at home.

With all the measures that Mr Sunak put in place, we also found that we were just unable to take advantage of most of that - we therefore needed to have cash in the business to get through this.

Driving free cash going forward is going to be one of my pillars to success in the next few years - acquirers like to see it, it helps for unforeseen circumstances like Covid 19 and also enables us to make decisions for the business based on what is right for the business rather than "do we have enough cash to do this - we know we want to but we can't afford to" - I am sure that resonates with many companies.

JFDI

Speak to your friends, speak to your family, your pets and neighbours. Life isn't a competition - do things you enjoy, learn a skill, learn a language, learn to cook, do a jigsaw, take more holidays (when allowed), see your family more, smile more, sing, dance, play a musical instrument, eat better, drink less (I failed on this one!), turn off the TV, sit outside, do the jobs you said you were going to do (stop procrastinating).

There is also room for you to STOP doing things that are bad for you - restrict social media, restrict time on your phone (find somewhere for it to sit on an evening and turn onto silent so it doesn't distract you), remove toxic people from your lives, if they don't make you smile or have good intentions then lose them, friends and family are about quality not quantity - I've learned that with the people that have interacted with me during the past few weeks.

Focus

Lose the noise - I am inherently a positive person and tend to want to help people. I take on too much and then put myself under pressure to make it happen. My wife has taught me that sometimes you just shouldn't get involved and let people figure some things out for themselves - they didn't actually want or need your help!

I'm spring cleaning what I do and with whom and will continue to clean as I go along.

Do fewer things well rather than trying to do everything.

Recurring Revenue

We have some amazing plans for driving recurring revenue across the business. They sit perfectly with what we do, simple and relatively easy to implement. Recurring revenue is key to our success going forward - watch this space.

Build the Team

I have done this before, I built a really strong team around me and we thrived - even through the 2008 financial crisis, we continued to grow at 25% YoY at both revenue and EBITDA level - why? We had a great offering and an even better team that would take a bullet for me and the business.

My next stage for this business will be to continue to build my team so I don't need to be everywhere and do everything - I will just do what I am good at and the rest of the team will do the same that applies to them - we will be the market leaders once more.

I am not wanting to be the smartest person in the room - I want the smartest people to work for me!

Take a Breath

This is not a race. We will not receive accolades for high rapid growth in an industry that is not rapid high growth! What we will do is create a superb company to work for and work with. Innovative, strong, honest, hardworking, passionate, value creating and a company that is great to be involved with.

This doesn't happen overnight and this isn't a race either. We should reach our goals collectively - they need to be achievable and we will get there.

Don't take this for granted

There are so many things that we have taken for granted.......freedom, seeing family and friends, spontaneous nights out and dinner, jumping in the car to go somewhere for a day out, family get togethers in the garden, going to work!!!!

Even when the restrictions are lifted, life will not be the same for some time - some things will never come back, others will be the same, other things will change, new things will come along - whichever and whatever happens, think about the way you live your life - many, many people have unfortunately lost their lives to Covid 19 and indeed other needless deaths have occurred due to Cancer, Car Crashes, Suicide, Malnutrition and there will be many more.

Life is precious and we have that gift of Life - let's not waste it.

That's my lesson from Lockdown - the rest is just noise.

ENDS