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R&M wins Chairman’s Award for outstanding performance in tough 2020/21 ‘Covid year’

Extraordinary circumstances demand unusual responses.

 MG 2215A

The Winner: ACTOM Chairman Andries Mthethwa presents the Chairman’s Award trophy and certificate to Mike Shaw, Divisional CEO of Reid & Mitchell.

This sums up the situation ACTOM found itself in during the past financial year, when the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the sustainability of the group’s business.

Along with the restrictive measures introduced by the government to contain the spread of the disease, the unprecedented pandemic prompted ACTOM’s senior management to adopt special measures to ensure the group’s survival through the tough new conditions in which it was forced to operate.

“What it boils down to is that we had to place greater focus on the group’s sustainability during the 2020/21 financial year than had been necessary in previous years,” said Andries Mthethwa, ACTOM’s Chairman.

The same change of approach filtered through to the adjudication of the Chairman’s Award contest for 2020/21, the group-wide annual competition in which all divisions and business units seek to win recognition as top-ranking performers.

“The various adjudication criteria for the competition have been weighted more heavily in favour of the financial criteria as opposed to the non-financial criteria than previously to take into account the changed business conditions and requirements resulting from COVID-19,” Andries explained when announcing the eagerly-awaited competition results on May 27.

The Awards event formed part of the group’s annual review, which was a virtual meeting attended by senior group executives countrywide.

Previously the financial and non-financial criteria for the competition were given 60% and 40% weightings respectively. “Because of the greater emphasis on sustainability that was put into effect during the past financial year, the weighting for the financial criteria was increased to 75%, while the non-financial criteria weighting was reduced to 25%,” Andries pointed out.   

chairmans awards

Other recipients (Top row from left followed by bottom row from left): Runner-Up Award recipients: Alan Buchholtz, Distribution Transformers’ Divisional CEO; David Sullivan, LH Marthinusen’s Divisional CEO. Divisional Certificates of Excellence recipients: John-Paul Andre, John Thompson’s Divisional CEO; Christian Baret, ACTOM Energy’s Divisional CEO; Richard Botton, Marthinusen & Coutts’ Divisional CEO. Business Unit Certificates of Excellence recipients: Chris Bezuidenhout, ACTOM Turbo Machines’ Managing Director; Antonio Teixeira, Electrical Machines’ General Manager; and Best What’s Watt Semi-technical article winner Etienne de Villiers, John Thompson’s Divisional Technical Manager.

Award winners

Reid & Mitchell (R&M) was a clear winner of the Chairman’s Award for the best performing division during the year under review. The most noteworthy of its achievements were:

l  Outstanding Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) growth of 11% over the previous year.

l  Conversion of profit into free cash of 106% of EBIT.

l  Growth in export orders of 51% over the previous year.

The Runner-Up award was shared by Distribution Transformers and LH Marthinusen (Inland) as this was a close-run race in which the two divisions’ scores were closely matched.

Three divisions were selected as recipients of Divisional Certificates of Excellence, these being John Thompson, ACTOM Energy and Marthinusen & Coutts.

Business Unit Certificates of Excellence went to ACTOM Turbo Machines and Electrical Machines, the two top-performing business units in the group.

The main criteria taken into account in adjudicating this part of the competition are the ability of business units to meet budget, achieve high EBIT growth and meet set cash flow conversion targets.

The winner of the Certificate of Recognition for the Best What’s Watt Semi-technical article for 2020 was Etienne de Villiers, John Thompson’s Divisional Technical Manager, for his article in the July 2020 issue of the magazine entitled “MicroGen power and steam generation for small generation solutions”.

Tribute to employees

Discussing the group’s performance as a whole during the challenging year of COVID-19, Andries said: “The business has been good in responding swiftly to the series of lockdowns in terms of controlling costs, securing as much profitability as possible and securing cash flow.

“It is also important to acknowledge the cooperation management received from employees, some of whom had to work through the strict lockdowns and in so doing risked exposure to the disease, while others took salary cuts without resistance when told they couldn’t be paid in full.

“The willing cooperation we have received from employees across the board has contributed greatly towards sustaining the business,” Andries concluded.

 

 

 

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