Taylor Maxwell Timber Limited COVID-19 Statement

As we have now completed the first quarter, we have evaluated where sales are likely to be for the remainder of this financial year. We have previously suggested that a 25% fall in output was likely over this period, based on all available intelligence and data today, that still feels the likely outcome. This represents a significant fall in revenue and is at a level where the overhead and cost base for this year could not be sustained. The Government is phasing out the Job Retention Scheme over the coming months, which has proven to be of great financial assistance over the last quarter. In the knowledge of this, we made the decision to make a number of people redundant to prepare the business for 75% of our budgeted sales. This exercise has been carried out over the last two weeks and it is of course hugely disappointing that this had to be undertaken, and one that many businesses are having to make in reaction to the impact of the current crisis.

There have been a total of 26 redundancies across the group, some have been voluntary, and appropriate consultations have been carried out with each of our colleagues. All areas of the business have been considered, with most impacted in some way. The largest single operational impact is the closing of the Edinburgh Customer Service department following the decision to consolidate the three Customer Services offices into two, this alone accounted for 11 of the redundancies. The pandemic has taught us that we don’t quite know what is around the corner, however, based on the knowledge we have today, we do not expect any further redundancies as the overhead will now be in line with the reduced level of sales expected over the remainder of this current year.

Tony Hammond – Managing Director – Taylor Maxwell Timber Limited