In Autumn 2019; I commenced an additional role as CEO of Thompsons, a dream challenge for me, Thompsons; an established shopfitting business operating in the food & beverage fit out sector, with their own joinery manufacturing workshop, electrical installations team and supported by Three Hills Capital Partners.
The role tempted me back into an executive duty; with opportunities to grow through organic means and acquisition, I settled in quickly and developed a plan for taking Thompsons from good to great! I was greeted by an excellent team and some fantastic people; it is easy to understand why Thompsons had been a successful business.
It has been an interesting 6 months, the initial turnaround plan progressed well, the business remains in good financial health, with a dynamic new senior leadership team, then bang!
Beware the ides of March! Following the weekend of the 74th lunar day, notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar and for Romans as a deadline for settlement of debts; the F&B sector was forced to close and 70% of our secured forward order book for the financial year was wiped out.
A similar tale for many businesses; as we collectively entered the fear zone.
The Fear Zone
Our Private Equity partners were quick to act; it was great to have relevant resources to navigate and accelerate the initial phases, preserve cash and cut costs quickly, maximise on the government support made available by Rishi and the team. Thompsons acted expediently and diligently; these actions have safeguarded the long-term future of an established, well-run business, as well as protecting the wellbeing of our workforce.
Thompsons initial reaction was to support their clients, whilst Thompsons trade with established corporates, they also work with emerging brands, these clients have been loyal to Thompsons and could now support them; initially with breathing space around outstanding accounts; we offered interest and penalty free plans to ease their worries, followed by supporting closure programmes and sharing best practice on how others were adapting to a “mothballed” real estate function.
Clarity surrounding construction activity was not forthcoming from the government with confusing messages, Thompsons had contractual obligations to complete schemes and faced penalties for non-completion.
Industry suppliers Travis Perkins and British Gypsum shut up shop immediately or only supported critical sites, followed rapidly by some others. Fulham Timber have been an outstanding part of the Thompsons supply chain, providing support when needed most and delivering materials throughout, my sincere thanks to the team at FT.
Thompsons immediately adopted the guidelines issued by the Construction leadership Council and carried out enhanced risk assessments to ensure the wellbeing of our workforce.
At the end of March, we paused our sites for 7 days to allow the operational teams to increase stocks of PPE and ensure materials were in place to ensure productivity of our live sites.
Where safe to do so, Thompsons remain active on 14 sites and have resources available to support clients to get ready for the new norm.
The Learning Zone.
Adapting to macro climate impacts in business requires expedient action, but this is a new challenge to us all, unless you are a scientist that has a proven vaccine you cant control the macro impacts, accepting this and then focussing on the items you can control is a necessity to move forward; otherwise a continuous doom loop controls your behaviours and ultimately your impact on others.
Thompsons only rely on information from trusted sources and adapt to the facts, the business continues to do the best things possible for the wellbeing of their people, clients and shareholders.
When you touch your pillow at night and reflect that you have tried your best and given your utmost attention to the challenges, that is all anyone can expect of you. Tomorrow will always carry new anxieties your actions need to be focussed on the future whilst taking your learnings from the past.
The new opportunities of home working and the realisations that you can still interact, be productive, fulfil your accountabilities; will shape the future of many businesses. Our physical office locations will be repurposed to allow collaboration and engagement rather than dedicated fixed desking, our travel commitments will diminish, our behaviours in the learning zone have already shaped automatic behaviours for the new norm.
The Thompsons senior leadership team has cemented from an historical silo structure into a holistic leadership unit with empathetic acknowledgement of the value that each individual brings to the team, utilising knowledge, experience, innovation and a single entrepreneurial mindset to unite on a common platform.
One of Thompsons challenges at the outset was; to manage the journey of a successful owner operator business into scalable corporate entity primed for managed growth under private equity ownership, the learning zone has given Thompsons the pause needed to cement this change.
Whilst on furlough or reduced duties, Thompsons employees have been engaged to shape the future of the business, companywide crowdsourcing for innovation, online eLearning modules for CDP, access to mental health first aiders are amongst the initiatives offered.
The Growth Zone
The landscape for the next 12 months will be dictated by the virus and our macro ability to test, trace and cure. This slide above, produced by Morgan Stanley, although focussed on the US gives a pictorial vision of the challenges ahead for most geographies.
The new norm, UK2.0, will be shaped by human behaviour. Many attributes of UK2.0 are in an irreversible state of development and have been shaped by the pandemic. Certain behaviours may never return, the renewed focus on wellbeing, hygiene and the impacts on others has engineered the thought process and resultant actions.
Thompsons create bespoke spaces for enjoyment and wellbeing; the focus will initially be supporting loyal clients on rebuilding their own businesses, adapting environments for the new consumer, providing thought leadership on adaption of existing spaces and offering scalable solutions to implement change expediently at best value point.
Client demand will shape the business in the short term, reputation, perception and actions will shape the longer-term model. Thompsons remain an ambitious company with transferable skillsets within the specialist fit out, electrical contracting and joinery manufacture industries.
The primary ambition is the wellbeing of every individual that touches the business, providing an enjoyable platform for our people, safe environments for both internal and external stakeholders and financial wellbeing for our shareholders and investors, whilst creating iconic facilities for our clients helping them to achieve their goals.
The core principals have not changed but the action plan to deliver them has, Thompsons are excited by UK2.0 and will help facilitate journeys to the new norm.
Over the next few weeks Thompsons will share further articles to stimulate debate, the next article will focus on learnings that have been shaped through the personal experience of Richard Smith (Head of Continuous Improvement) formally with the armed forces, the piece will be based on “Decontaminating lessons from NATO” which may become automatic behaviours for workplace, retail and F&B.
Finally, Thompsons are collaborating with leading designers and operators within the F&B space to discuss topics for re-opening and a concept F&B facility for the hygiene conscious consumer.
Whilst it has been an exciting 6 months; the future for Thompsons post covid19 will be a positive one…
