Customer Announcement - COVID-19 Coronavirus

CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT

1st April 2020

We understand that this has been a very difficult time for everyone in the UK and around the world. We send you our best wishes and hope that you and your loved ones keep safe and healthy throughout this crisis.

As the leading UK distributor of decorative surfaces we believe it is important that we remain open to support our customers who are working hard to provide essential products and services to those on the front line. We can assure you that the health and safety of our employees is our number one priority and confirm that we are able to provide a safe working environment on our sites, being fully compliant with Government recommendations for hygiene and social distancing.

It has been necessary to make significant changes to our business within the last few days; we have closed a number of our depots until further notice, and over 80% of the IDS workforce have been put onto the Government furlough scheme. We would like to inform you of these changes and how we will be operating in the coming weeks.

Our Leeds, Stoke and Nuneaton branches will remain open, alongside our bulk storage depot and import warehouse at Ely. This represents four of our largest depots, carrying a significant percentage of our total stockholding. Ideally our Scotland branch would also have remained open, however this is unfortunately not possible at this time.

It is our intention to focus on delivering products nationally to those customers serving the essential sectors that are detailed below, whilst recognising that all essential services are not always immediately obvious.

Health Education Care Social Housing Infrastructure Utilities

We have created a national sales team that will be working out of our depots at Leeds, Stoke and Nuneaton. The phone lines for branches that have been temporarily closed have been diverted to these sales offices; alternatively, you can dial direct to one of the sales offices.

Leeds: 0113 220 3900 Stoke: 01782 567222 Nuneaton: 02476 325031

If for any reason you are unable to get through, please use our dedicated e-mail address [email protected] - and orders can still be placed online 24/7 through www.idsurfaces.co.uk.

We have already experienced a significant downturn in business activity as many of our customers have closed, and more plan to do so in the next few days - therefore the remodelling we have implemented is reflective of these market conditions. We will be operating with a reduced fleet of vehicles and will do our best to meet your requirements but ask that you work closely with our sales team to be as organised and as flexible as possible in helping us to support you. We do also ask you to consider that mechanical off-lift will be required for all deliveries to allow safe distances to be maintained between colleagues.

All four sites will be open for collection and we will introduce a booking service to ensure that we can serve you safely and efficiently.

We believe these changes to our business provide the correct balance between supporting the country in the fight against COVID-19, whilst enabling IDS to stay operational in this challenging period. We will endeavour to work with you provide the best possible service to keep the nation moving.

Yours sincerely

John Bagshaw