Hi all, I hope this finds you well and with a booming Christmas trade.

Quick recap of the year from us

• Transformational year, lots of consolidation and housekeeping, margin analysis and training. New GM, Pete (amazing) and new Ops Manager Keith (also amazing).
• For SCS this started off one of our hardest years, we had to make some tough calls earlier in the year but we are ending up with a very strong finish.
• Walked away from a couple of very large potential clients preferring to focus on improving internal systems as a priority.
• The SCS subsidiaries Parcelwings and WSAS (Work Safe Advisory Services) continue to grow from strength to strength, WSAS broke even in month 4 which is extraordinary, we have an impressive customer base already, if you are not compliant with the new act and would like to be let us know we are already circa 50 companies manage this new legislation.
• Our supply chain/logistics consulting division is currently over capacity (we’re loving this, far more margin than 3PL) we will be bringing on new staff to support this next year as we are full until April.
• SCS will be launching some exciting new freight services in the year for our 3PL clients (I could tell you now but I’d have to kill you, its very hush hush)
• PaT our HR Staff, training and performance management tool has been running for nearly a year now, the outcomes have been stunning, our staff training is easily the best in the southern hemisphere now in our industry.

o  We have started to monetise PaT and are selling this externally too. We’ll be going live externally with our first SCS client Q1 next year.

• We had our first general labour increase in many years of 3.2%, http://www.supplycs.com/budget-update/ we have one more early next year then things will settle down again for the foreseeable future. Have since rolled out a new training and capabilities based pay scheme for all stores staff.

• SCS was nominated for and became a finalist in the Westpac business awards
• SCS was a founding sponsor of ecommerce NZ , we continue to be heavily involved in this space
• SCS picked our millionth order this year (we estimate we process quarter of a billion dollars of annual trade through our facilities now-a-days
• We had a cameo appearance on a Fair Go segment with one of our clients challenging the standards of child care seats and I got to show off my gorgeous half-sister Pippa Wetzell (Fair Go presenter) to my staff! Few people believe someone so pretty can be my sister J

All in all a solid year. In fact the first year I can really recall since the GFC where I am not heading into New Years looking forward to leaving this year behind!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Firstly to our customers, without you we wouldn’t be here, we have over 140 full time staff now that you support. Incredibly we calculated recently that by April more than half of our staff will have been with us for 5 years or more. That’s unusually high in our industry where the average tenure of a stores person is understood to be 1-3 years. When I started the business in 2001 I had no idea how heavily the responsibility of looking after the families of the staff would weigh on me. We believe our staff are our biggest asset, we have HR committees, escalation policies, staff events, social committee, amazing training, reviews and every one to two weeks I try to get around and chat to each of the staff individually. It’s amazing to hear their stories, their struggles and their triumphs. One issue in 3PL is that you the customer gets divorced from the human element of the service which is a shame because the people here who work for you are amazing and have real stories. We often chat about how this is your product, your trust in us and how we wouldn’t be here if it want for you so I know when I say thank you for your support I say some on behalf of 140 kiwis who rely on your support to feed and clothe their families.

Secondly to our staff, you are truly amazing, I see you make sacrifices every day, working late, doing weekend shifts and going the extra mile, living what we sell, integrity and class leading service.

Thirdly to our suppliers, our unsung heroes, Courier Post you are amazing, Retko your North Island service on balance has been excellent and we’re glad to finally have a new solution for our South Island. Sam and Sashi who look after our Auckland bulk deliveries your support is deeply valued.

Finally to my family, as a family owned business, we don’t knock off at 5pm and there is a lot more at stake when everything you own is tied up in the business, it brings a different level of stress which I think is part of our success and it requires an enormous amount of trust and support. Thank you.

Well that’s a wrap for another year. We wish you and your families a terrific Christmas from all of us here at SCS. Stay safe.

Rgds

Brad and the team