Mark’s Message: Hub Group
I’ve written a version of this Mark’s Message at least four times in the last two years. On one occasion we were so excited that we accidentally sent it out and announced something that ultimately didn’t happen.
So what am I talking about? Roll of drums …………..
Pioneer is now the proud owner and operator of its entire trucking fleet. Specifically, we have exited our contract with HUB and taken the drivers and dispatchers into our business.
First, let me welcome these team members to Pioneer. Welcome back to some of you, and welcome to others. I think I speak for everyone in the business when I say we are delighted to have you join the Pioneer team.
Since taking over as CEO I’ve been steadfast in the belief that we had to put in place 6 things to allow us to be successful:
- We have to have the best people and engage everyone in building a Business that can compete and succeed. STABLE MANAGEMENT TEAM, LOWER STAFF TURNOVER, BONUS PAYMENTS NOW CONSISTENTLY PAID.
- Pivot our focus back to serving small to medium contractors through our network of yards. DOUBLE DIGIT SALES GROWTH IN OUR YARDS EACH OF THE LAST TWO YEARS.
- Expand our quarry resources and sell more of what we mine. 5 NEW QUARRIES AND RESERVES EXTENDED FROM 11 YEARS TO 25 YEARS ON AVERAGE.
- Develop a new business sector to help minimize our seasonality and be counter cyclical to our existing business sectors. INDUSTRIAL SECTOR ON TRACK TO DELIVER $20m OF ANNUAL SALES.
- Own and operate our own trucks. ALL OF OUR FLEET IS NOW OWNED BY PIONEER AND DRIVEN BY PIONEER DRIVERS.
- Restructure the balance sheet, reduce the debt and put us in a strong financial position. DONE.
Point number 6 above has been negotiated in parallel with the exit of the HUB agreement. JLL and one of our lenders have contributed new funds which has been used to buy the trucks, pay off all of our third party debt, and give the business a balance of cash to pay all of its bills.
I’m sure you’ll be aware of how tough it’s been to achieve all six of the changes above. At times many of us doubted that we could pull it off. Now that we have I couldn’t be more excited about the season that lies ahead of us.
With our trucks we’ll be able to offer unrivaled service. With our quarries we’ll be able to offer an unrivaled range of products. With our newly restructured yards and yard staff we will be the premium centers for landscape materials.
The icing on the cake is a new system developed by our in house IT folks that will rival anything you might see in larger, more sophisticated organizations. The system will take orders, schedule deliveries, track inventory, dispatch and trace the truck all the way through to delivery. This is a digital tool that will not only be used within the business but also will have a customer portal. More to come on this in the future.
The timing of bringing this all together couldn’t be better. The busy season is almost upon us. Most of you will remember how busy we were last year and see this year being even stronger. The difference is that this year we are in control of our destiny. I’m excited about what we can achieve together and look forward to working with you all to deliver a great year.