January 2021
At the turn of the New Year in 2021 then the UK finds itself once more in a lockdown, and for the third time, in a fight against an invisible enemy that continues to be as deadly as it is insidious. We have all been forced to consider our own mortality and that of our loved ones.
However at the LINTHWAITE GROUP, t/a DAVANT, then we have also had a duty of care to our staff and their families in order to try to ensure that everyone stayed safe and well. We believe that we have carried this out, thus far, with great attention to detail and discipline but also, I would like to think, with no small degree of humanity.
The staff have repaid the company in droves. Everyone has worked incredibly hard to hold everything together and to ensure that we still have a business left when this truly horrendous virus has been finally brought under control.
In commercial terms then the challenges have been just as daunting. The three months of March to May, 2020 inclusive , were akin to falling off a cliff in terms of our drop in sales. It is at times like this that you learn your true friends; the colleagues, suppliers and customers who looked to be mutually supportive as distinct from just looking inwardly to their own survival. Our bank has also been hugely supportive and although we, like many companies, have had to lend far more money than we would like to have done then HSBC has endeavoured to make this as painless as possible for us.
We decided early on that we would also look ‘outwards’, and to the future, and to support as far as was practicably possible, each and every one of our valued customers. Although we had to furlough a number of staff then at no stage did we close our doors at DAVANT. We truly bought into the concept, and tried very much to adopt the premise, that….. ‘we are all in this together’.
However we all need to be realistic and to be aware of the fact that we are by no means out of the woods as yet. However here at DAVANT then we look forward to a time when we can all start to view this dangerous time in the rear view mirror.
In the meantime then our very best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy New Year.
Stay safe and stay well
David Merrick
Group Managing Director