Managed with flying colors
General director of LLC Metadynea Igor Spasskiy described how the company operates in the period of economic crisis and COVID-19 pandemic as well as presented his forecast for the second half of 2020
Mr. Spasskiy, 2020 for all of us became time of the check for strength. How COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis affected the operation of your company? Whether the consequences of these global challenges impacted the result of its work?
Definitely in the first half of the year the situation was changing rapidly. The most complicated and unclear month for us was April, when we saw a decrease of the output amount for some of our areas by 50%. As a result, in terms of the output amount and sales in physical values the results of the first half of 2020 turned out to be 15% less than the plan. The amount of the produced output for the main types was 232 thousand tons. Investments amount was 204 million rubles.
But at the same time we have reached decent financial values. Our commercial specialists were not at a loss and were able to use all the possibilities, which appeared on the market. Thanks to their efforts we even managed to slightly over fulfill the budget in terms of the marginal values. In addition, some actions were taken to decrease the expenses. As a result, net profit based on the work result in the first half of the year is by 70% more than plan. The income amount is 5,6 billion rubles.
We acted in very challenging conditions. The anxiety level in April was at maximum, since the main wave at the beginning of the pandemic hit Moscow and Moscow region. When all the enterprises were closing on a massive scale we continued to work, tried to provide for the needs of our partners, not to allow disruptions in their work. It became in a sense an affair of honor. It was complicated to plan the work in the part of the products shipment. The Customers were unable to accurately prepare the schedules for one month ahead. We provided tailored orders to our Customers, and they processed the resin “just-in-time” in order not to create the spare in the tanks under the conditions of the high risks of the enterprises closure. All of this required bigger efforts than before. Nevertheless, we organized the work precisely satisfying all the customers requests.
Promptly a documentation package was prepared confirming the continuous manner of the company work. It was a mandatory condition to continue the work under the conditions of the quarantine. We took all the actions for the enterprise to keep operating. We promptly organized the work of the offices in Moscow and Orekhovo–Zuevo remotely. Of course all the meetings were held as the videoconferences. We fully cancelled all the business trips for the period of pandemic. We provided the transportation for the employees working on the production facility to avoid using public transportation. We organized individual catering on the work places to avoid the necessity of coming to the canteen. We provided for the personnel all necessary means of protection. We changed operation time and communication between the sections to minimize the contacts between the employees. For example, all the samples provision from production to the lab for analysis was remote. We eliminated the overlap of the shifts, installed the protection screens in the operators room. We even considered the possibility to apply the rotation system of work. As a result, this did not happen, but nevertheless this option was deeply investigated and at any moment, if necessary, we were ready to use it.
How do you estimate the work of the company personnel in the crisis situation?
Speaking about our personnel I believe that everyone managed with flying colors. We did not stop the production, the products were shipped as per the needs of our customers. Everyone reacted promptly. We changed the plans both for the repairs and for the projects, but our work was maintained. In May we felt the positive changes. In June we were almost working with our usual capacity. I am very satisfied and proud of all the sections of Metadynea, because complicated situation did not paralyze the work of the company but pulled our personnel together. Also I would like to highlight the substantial input of the Metafrax Group anti-crisis team. The team was timely organized and skillfully coordinated the work of all the Group enterprises in this difficult period.
As per your forecast, how the situation will be developing on the market in the second half of 2020 and what are the company plans in connection to it?
Forecast for the second half, in my opinion, is quite optimistic. Our work is closely related to the construction industry, which is the driver for sales for us. When the limitations were partially removed and constructions gradually started again, the sales level for the construction materials increased. And the third quarter is a peak of the construction season in our country. Optimism is slightly less for the end of the year plans, since the “high season factor” will be slowly decreasing to “zero”. In the end of the year the problems with forest are possible, for example, for the plywood manufacturers. Due to the warm winter they were unable to form the stock of wood. This might negatively impact the scopes of the plywood production, and consequently the amount of consumption for resins can be decreased.
Forecast for the yearly budged performance is quite optimistic. We continue to live as per the budget, which was calculated not considering the pandemic, and we have an aim to over fulfill it.