Staying the course
in the UK

Staying the course in the UK

As the country ventures into uncharted territory over Brexit, Llyr Roberts, CEO of Prysmian UK, affirms commitment to the Group’s strategic pillars, whilst maintaining competitive advantage through stringent cost management.

Safety, Quality, Service.” Llyr Roberts, CEO of P rysmian UK operations, has a three-word answer when asked about his priorities while dealing with market uncertainties due to the unfolding process of Brexit. Llyr explains that as the UK economy is projected to slow-down over the coming years, “We are unlikely to benefit from a growing cable market.” A side effect of Brexit is that costs are increasing on the back of a devaluing pound as Prysmian UK purchases most of its raw materials (in Euros) from European suppliers.

The company has to continue to aggressively manage its cost base in order to maintain competitiveness: “Cost management,” Llyr says, “comes in the form of many initiatives, although efficiency and optimisation in everything we do is at the forefront.” This largely relates to our production processes in the form of material consumption and scrap generation, “Although we must strive to be high-performing and efficient in all areas of the business not only manufacturing.”

However, notwithstanding the need to address our cost base, Llyr states, “Our operational priorities continue to be ‘Safety’, which means a zero harm environment for all employees, ‘Quality’, which is right first time manufacture and ensuring that no defective products reach our customers, and finally ‘Service’, which is reliably and consistently delivering products and services in full and on time.”

We simply have to maintain the maximum level of speed and flexibility, and be prepared to react and respond should our business environment change for the better or for the worse.

Looking ahead to 2018, Prysmian UK is finalising its business planning process: an extremely detailed exercise culminating in the agreement of our Management Plan.  Llyr sees the impact of Brexit negotiations as “overlaying on any current market or business assumptions as we move ever closer to the early 2019 separation from the EU.” From Prysmian’s perspective, he goes on, “We simply have to maintain the maximum level of speed and flexibility, and be prepared to react and respond should our business environment change for the better or for the worse.”

In his view, it is only through the collective efforts of every single employee in the company “That we can hope to deliver the business results expected of us, whilst helping the group to achieve its growth ambitions.”

Entering into details of how he sees the business trend in the coming year, Llyr tells us that the Trade & Installers business, albeit under pressure from importers, is expected to show a stable volume in the domestic market, while he expects to see a substantial drop in demand from Hong Kong  (the UK’s traditionally largest export market).

Power Distribution has experienced a dramatic slow-down in 2017, and - although he expects a partial recovery in 2018 - the market won’t recover to past volumes. High Voltage has experienced one of the strongest ever years in terms of volume, much of which will not be installed until 2018, despite the majority of the cable having been delivered and invoiced this year: “We will have a very busy installation period where excellence in project execution will be our highest priority.”

The challenge, he summarizes, will be to “manage the supply chain such that we give priority to our loyal customers whilst maximising profitability.”

He expects Network Components, OEM and Oil & Gas to remain flat, while Telecom is currently experiencing an explosion in demand which is expected to continue through 2018. Llyr notes that “With a global shortage of optical fibre which is predicted to continue at least until late 2018, we will not be able to capitalise on every commercial opportunity which comes our way.”