For me Christmas is always the time to take stock of the business even though our financial year runs from April til March the turning of the actual year always seems more significant. The days are lengthening once more which always seems to renew my optimism as we look towards the new year hopefully refeshed by welcome break over the Christmas period.
The past year has been very mixed with many negatives affecting our cost base due to ever more regulation and often insane competition for market share in a stagnant or slightly declining marketplace. Our collective ability to kick seven bells out of each other in a mad scramble to grab market share by being ‘cheaper’ never ceases to amaze me.
My experience dictates that real profitable growth comes from being local and above all being better, this involves commitment, investment and an infrastructure able to cope when the going gets tough. Any company can deliver promptly and ‘cheaply’ when we are all quiet and glad of someting to do. The real test is when the crunch comes, demand races away and lead times start increasing, infrastructure and staff commitment ensure the wheels do not fall off and we are still able to get things done within five working days when others around are quoting up to 15 working days. This is the time to reaffirm our commitment to those who make us what we are, our loyal core customers whose needs are paramount. At times like this those canny types who shop for the lowest price are pretty low on our list of priorities, This is particularly so when we are actually cheaper than others because our pricing policy is the same throughout the year. This may appear to be commercial suicide, however it works for us.
Last winter was heavy going with incredibly mild weather prevailing throughout followed by a generally wet often windy summer, these are not circumstances guaranteed to send the oil distribution sector into a state of rapture. That said we have to take the rough with the smooth and whether we like it or not work with the material that is available. Father always said “ the backbone is a more effective tool than the wishbone”.
Autumn brought the oil price shock which has made the last quarter very interesting as our customers recoiled in horror at the sustained attack on their collective wallets, this unhappy state of affairs was compounded by the heartless hike in fuel duty imposed to paper over the widening cracks in the economy.
In the midst of all this adversity Consols was presented with an incredible opportunity to grow by acquisition, this has already been explained in previous postings, suffice to say the outcome has propelled us forward in fine fettle ready to hit the ground running in 2008.
The resilience and resourcefulness of the SME Business sector is amazing when judged against the hurdles that must be surmounted on a daily basis. The sheer biodiversity of the sector contrasts so vividly with the bland one size fits all Corporate sector or the dead hand of crass incompetence that has increasingly come to typify Governmental Departments. These pernicious monoliths too numerous to identify individually encapsulate failure on an epic scale exposing in the process the disastrous weaknesses of “Big Government”.
This unfolding disaster is overseen by that most useless, arrogant and self seeking form of human life, the “Politician”. Having collectively reneged on the Police pay deal in a manner that has justifiably enraged the service, they now propose with breathtaking aplomb to award themselves an inflation busting 10% pay increase. This appears to be cynically designed to ensure enhanced pensions for those that expect to lose their seats when they get our collective boots up their fat arses at the next election.
God help us all in the meantime, its too much for me, I am off for a drink, Nadelik Lowen ha Blyden Nowydh Da, Kernow bys vyken.
