Two weeks ago, I mentioned in my blog that the early signs were that the first half of 2020 has been exceptionally good for Solar Solve, considering the problems all businesses have had to overcome due to Covid-19.
Having just given a presentation to Solar Solve’s fantastic employees, I can now confirm that is the case.
The first quarter of the year was exceptional, including as it did the best month on record for the business. Turnover in February was the highest of any month since the company was created in 1988. The manufacturing facility being shut down for the last week of March did not have much effect on the figures, with a 5% increase being achieved compared to Q1 last year.
The second quarter definitely was affected by the two weeks of shutdown plus the reduced demand when we returned to work. However, turnover was down by only 20%, which was welcome because on re-opening the factory, only 50% of the production staff were able to return to work for the first 3 weeks. All of the administration, sales and marketing team were able to work full time from home for the whole period, including the shutdown and they were exceptional.
By mid-July all production personnel were back at work and all of the admin teams are working full time, with some still working from home until PPE screens arrive for installation in the offices.
Naturally, numbers of orders continue to be lower, as many organisations have, quite understandably, put some projects on hold for the time being. We are countering this by having great success with our determined efforts to win new customers into the Solar Solve fold.
We get lots of good news all of the time and send out much of it as blogs or press releases. The USA shipyards are prolific builders of all types of military craft, from mighty aircraft carriers to light support boats and everything in between. In March of this year we were advised by one of the US Military Ship Designers and Planners that they intend to use Solar Solve’s Type Approved SOLASAFE sunscreens aboard the latest type of vessel they are designing.
As I said in the last sentence of my presentation to the great team of people who are Solar Solve; I’m sure everyone appreciates that we have a very good business model here. As long as we keep applying ourselves and look after it, so that it will always attract and delight customers, it will survive, and we will survive and benefit with it.
JHL MBE SSL Co. Chairman
