Town Hall Meeting – Friday 10th June 2022.

This week's town hall came to you with a twist. With Dennis presenting our business performance at a board meeting in Sweden, we saw Chief People Officer Jane Beeston hosting the town hall live from DC7 or, as we more commonly know it, Kidderminster.

Additionally, we saw moments of inspiration presented by Liza Kindon, Warehouse Supervisor at Kidderminster, where she discussed her passion for sustainability. Notably, she tells us how that passion evolved and what this means to her both in and out of the workplace.

We also see Jane in conversation with Kidderminster-based Shane Williams, Site Manager and Fran Holden, Warehouse Manager. During this insightful dialogue, the employee engagement survey results are discussed, bringing to life some of the excellent practices on-site in "Kiddy".

Jane didn't break tradition and started the town hall with a business update. She told us that our financial indicators are not great, with sales down 14% against budget and 2 points lower against margin. Plus, a current loss of £2M EBIT due to increased costs. These are all indicators leading to the OPEX savings programme, which sees a slow in our pace of spend. Examples of this include slowing recruitment, refining our CAPEX and optimising revenue.

Jane clearly stated that we are not changing our strategy but rather moderating the pace or, LESS = MORE!

Whilst much of this is influenced by many external factors, Jane reported on the positives happening within the business. With Project Blue Sky as a driver, we have seen improved service levels to our customers of over 90%; with our next step in Project Blue Sky to optimise our inventory levels. Also, our eNPS score now sits at +22 - an enormous increase from past years.

View the accompanying presentation deck here to learn more about the data relating to the employee engagement survey, and watch the video to ensure you understand the meaning behind the data.