Page 16 - W M Donald Newsletter - Edition Twelve

Commercial Update
Recent contracts provide resilience and stability going forward
Despite the recent turmoil in material availability and subsequent price rises, W M Donald continues to trade positively with our expectations for this financial year to date being met. Also, thanks to recent contract awards through negotiation with existing clients and competitive tendering successes, our order book now exceeds its pre-pandemic value by over 20%. Securing these new contracts, along with other opportunities being pursued, will ensure that our year-on-year growth targets will be achieved. They will also contribute to W M Donald’s resilience and stability going forward, no matter what the next twelve months has in store for us.
Capital expenditure in our Surfacing Division
Although we have enjoyed many successes over the past few months, one of the most notable was W M Donald’s decision to invest further in our Surfacing Division. This decision was made in order to enable us to offer our clients a competitive road surfacing option across our broader geographic area of operation while still having the resources available to provide a high level of service to our existing civil engineering contracts. From the outset, the enhanced Surfacing Division has contributed positively to W M Donald’s overall sales and profitability.
As a result of this success we have had no hesitation in sanctioning further capital expenditure in the division over the next few months. We are in no doubt that this will translate into new job opportunities in the first quarter of 2022.
Derek Dunbar, Commercial Director
COINS
Around twelve months ago, it became clear that W M Donald had outgrown its existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software; an alternative option needed to be considered.
After researching software options, and after discussions with our industry peers, we identified COINS* Construction ERP as a software package that would not only meet our current and future needs, but would also help us progress our plans to streamline the business, ensuring there are fewer process and software ‘barriers’ between our internal departments.
Our investment in COINS will seamlessly integrate the delivery of commercial, payroll, plant, purchase ledger, human resources and training activities through a single enterprise software package. All future users of COINS are currently going through a regime of training provided by the developer. This training is intensive, but we are all rising to the challenge. We look forward to reaping the rewards of our investment in COINS by March 2022.
*Construction Industry Solutions (COINS)
Banchory Beast
In September, a crack team of W M Donald supreme athletes were joined by Mike Meldrum and Ian Gray to ‘compete’ in the Banchory Beast Race. A 10km circuit of torture included obstacles such as Ropey McRopeface, Hitting the Wall, Clay Clag (ouch!) and Beast Bog (even more ouch!).
It was an unseasonably warm day which made it all the more exhasuting, but the team stuck together, completed the course, and raised a fantastic £4,000 for the Grampian Autistic Society (GAS).
GAS aims to provide the best possible education, care, support and opportunities for people of all ages with autism in North East Scotland. You can find out more about their amazing work at www.grampianautisticsociety.org.uk.
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