This has been a year of complex financial challenges.
We feel fortunate that Dolphin Bay has navigated these times successfully. In a show of confidence, we have made a substantial investment in our operations, to demonstrate our commitment to the industry and our team. We were pleased to see similar commitments from customers.
Cash-flow management has remained a key focus area as shipping delays, described in Thinus’s story below, rendered our payment terms obsolete, effectively resulting in pre-payments for raw materials that hadn’t arrived.
For exports, we had large quantities of Permacure CCA stuck in ports, awaiting shipment. This placed enormous strain on our cash flow, as the material could not be invoiced.
To add to these difficulties, many of our customers are struggling to receive payment from government institutions, resulting in delayed payment to us and worsening our situation.
“I am happy that throughout 2021, Dolphin Bay continued to remain service-orientated, which comes at a cost to our business but is an investment worth making.”
Despite all these difficulties, not only have we persevered, but we continue to thrive as a business. This might seem like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. So it seemed to us too at times, but in reality, it came down to meticulous planning, co-ordinated teamwork, staying nimble and taking nothing for granted, in a very fluid financial environment.
I am happy that throughout 2021, Dolphin Bay continued to remain service-orientated, which comes at a cost to our business but is an investment worth making. Pricing and costs have remained under enormous pressure, with continued – and seemingly limitless – increases in shipping rates, raw materials and the cost of doing business.
All of us, as businesses and individuals, are feeling these pressures.
Yet this has not led us to compromise our standards and our vision for the industry and our business. You might often have seen our slogan, ‘Knowing we can make a difference.’ This is not just a slogan for our benefit, but one we embody, as our team can attest. It is the core focus with which we approach customers and maintain our relationships.
We remain vested in our customers’ success.
We were pleased to see that our customers continued to benefit from this approach this year, as their businesses and operations have continuously improved, and they largely report that this has been a successful year, despite the difficulties, setting the stage for a fruitful 2022.
Predicting the future might seem unwise, and many sages have made mistakes doing so. For fear of looking like fools, we will not make predictions, but we will share our vision.
Next year will be one in which markets and companies will consolidate their bases and business dealings. It is going to be a year in a sense of normality will return, but not the normality we were used to. Uncertainty will continue in this new normality, and be part of our daily lives.
Planning might be shorter in term, but the good versus the bad company will become clear, determined by whether decisions are based on the principles of either sustainability or a quick profit.
Dolphin Bay will choose sustainability. We trust that the industry will do the same.
Inevitably, prices will rise across all industries in 2022, to compensate for the increased costs during 2021. These will need to be passed on to consumers, as industries recalibrate for higher costs of operations.
Dolphin Bay will continue doing what we do best – working to understand your business, offering you a complete suite of services to help you optimise and expand your operations, and working in close partnership with you.
We have no doubt this will make us all stronger and more secure, now and in the long term.
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