News from The Bridge

So where does one start? It’s been a year like no other already and that’s after last year which was definitely a year like no other which was after 2020……. 

It’s a complete horror show from a global perspective, which unfortunately affects us all. The world has moved on from Covid yet working from home appears to be the new norm, certainly based on our office estate car park. That certainly doesn’t help office supplies. Meanwhile freight costs reached astronomical levels, never seen before, resulting in huge swathes of our cash being used to pay for containers that resulted in us still losing money on each one. None of us can do that for ever. We have implemented price rises on top of price rises to compensate and hope that’s it’s enough. Fortunately, we are seeing container prices falling but only to be replaced by an ever weakening pound and Euro against the dollar, now at record levels. 

Inflation is running at 11% (allegedly), raw materials are rising continually and subsequently trying to establish a sound pricing policy is extremely challenging, but the whole market is crying out for some stability, however I’m not sure we are there yet.  

I have never known a period like this in my whole career and it keeps coming. You need something to sell! This is of course without mentioning the Russia Ukraine war which has impacted just about everything in its path. 

Yet it doesn’t get any easier, does it? With Covid and Project Fear now behind us (at least from a legislative perspective) we are now seeing, as some of us may have predicted, the results of closing the country down for the best part of two years. 

The downside of allowing people the luxury of WFH brings with it an understandable reluctance of returning to the workplace, particularly if you don’t like your job or have a pet. Inflation, despite the Bank of England continuing to raise interest rates, appears to be heading higher. In contrast, the latest ‘mini budget’ from the UK government is an attempt to encourage growth. While the Bank of England attempts to slow down the economy, the government is attempting to speed it up – and we’re stuck in the middle (with you). 

Currently, because of the cost-of-living crisis upon us, at least 25% of the population are living in absolute poverty and on the horizon, a wave of company closures could arrive like a tsunami. On top of that we have a Russian dictator, whom we have so stupidly allowed to control our power supply switching it off at a whim, with energy prices about to destroy quality of life for 80% of Europe’s population or cost Governments billions preventing it. Germany, the powerhouse of Europe and the EU is in free fall with no idea where it will end, but I suspect it won’t be pretty, France is in a similar situation with no back up energy supply but they at least are capping consumer energy prices at a low rate, whilst back in the UK, the government has pushed back energy hikes for businesses for the next six months and capped consumer bills at a ‘mere’ £2,500 for the average household.  

The unions and the public sector are striking as they see their wages diminish in real terms. As I said earlier the ever-strengthening dollar is destroying currencies with ever more inflationary pressures being created daily as a result. The Euro is now at parity with the dollar and noone is sure where the pound will end. My feeling is we have three years of this ahead of us.  It’s all a bit of a mess.

Running a business through this, is very, very challenging. We need a plan and we have one. We need to source from other markets outside of China, then we move more and more of our products into sustainable versions, we keep our overheads even lower, if possible and we look to grow. 

We are winning new business and I have managed to keep wages for my team at an acceptable level and gave them a good increase. From a plus point our team continue to perform brilliantly, our new Indian sourcing operation is going really positively, we have had record months in the USA. We are launching a new acrylic catering range, including jugs, plates and tumblers.  We have just entered the Education sector and as long as our customers survive, there remains light. We continue to innovate and particularly from an Eco perspective, we must.  

To finish (for now) clearly, there will be no luxuries for the foreseeable future, and it’s going to be one hell of a ride but the sun’s out, the sky’s blue, I can still afford a beer and life is for living! And where there’s life, there’s hope – and hope we do, planning our way ever forward.