Now the party's over
It will be a long time before turkey and mince pies tempt Norman Deas's taste-buds again. The end of the school term saw a hectic round of Christmas lunches at all contracts, while staff at the Government Offices for London (GOL) were treated to two days of festive menus.
Most of the lunches were deemed a success. There was "record uptake" at St Patrick's school in London's Walthamstow, says Deas, while the head of Templars school in Witham, Essex, said theirs had been the "best ever". However, the past month has not been entirely problem-free.
Playground antics
The atmosphere was less than festive at Stanley Tech in Croydon, Surrey, particularly when the playground flooded with sewage and year 10 and 11 pupils were sent home for two days. "It was a disaster," says Deas. "We had only 50% uptake for Christmas lunch."
With the short trading month caused by the Christmas holidays putting pressure on cash-flow, everyone worked hard to get November invoice payments in before the country shut down. Deas is rejoicing in the fact that the financial director of the national group of care homes, for which Goodfellows does the purchasing, wants to pay bills by BACS from now on, but that attitude is the exception rather than the rule.
The pre-Christmas invoice-chasing has made Deas more determined than ever to persuade suppliers to pay by BACS: "We pay all suppliers strictly to the agreed terms - either 15 days on some local suppliers, or 28 days with the nationals - and 90% of those are on BACS payments. So why can't our clients? It's just as well we have a good relationship with our bank manager. We get away with it - just."
Losing two weeks' trading over Christmas has also had an impact on figures for the year to date, with gross profit slipping to 15% on a turnover of £1.76m. But Deas is confident the company will achieve its year-end target of £2.2m turnover and a gross profit of 19%.
The figures will no doubt be helped by more good news from the care homes group, which has forecast a 50% rise in turnover for 2001 as a result of major contract wins in the Midlands. "We'll probably have to look at our resources at head office and take on another admin person," says Deas. And that will have an impact on space at the Ely office, although whether the company will convert the garage to provide more storage, or move to a bigger property, is undecided.
It has been quiet on the tender front over Christmas, with Deas withdrawing from two. The Hertfordshire Police contract would have required enormous investment following the removal of £450,000 of subsidy, and a similar situation at a college in south London forced him to rethink.
A further-education college contract, which could put £120,000 on to Goodfellows' turnover, will probably not be awarded until April - budget approval for the next financial year has been delayed following changes in Government funding. Goodfellows has updated its proposal, however, and Deas is hopeful: "It still appears very warm."
Fresh from a week's holiday in Gibraltar, Deas is ready to tackle some meaty issues this year. He visited his regular haunt - the Rock hotel - where he found staff following his company's fortunes in Caterer.
As well as the challenge of developing existing business and winning new contracts, one of the main challenges will be getting to grips with the vast amount of legislation and directives flooding out of Europe. He may soon be wishing it were Christmas again.
Next visit: 22 February
