April 20, 2020
Linamar Corporation today released commentary regarding ongoing COVID-19 related impacts to its business and provided the latest available updated industry conditions in the key Access, Agriculture and Automotive markets in which it operates. The Q1 and COVID-19 Related Update on Market Conditions presentation deck highlighting the key actions, market impacts and response efforts containing further details can be found here.
April 2, 2020
Linamar’s COVID-19 Related Investor Update can be found here.
The COVID-19 Update: Letter to the Shareholders can be found here and below. March 27, 2020 Dear Shareholders, I would like to provide you another update on the situation at Linamar in response to this COVID-19 global crisis. These are unprecedented times with business and personal lockdowns spreading around the world and leaving us in a constant state of change and volatility. Although the crisis is devastating to so many people and companies around the world, the culture at Linamar of responsiveness, planning, execution and teamwork is well suited to allow us to effectively manage the situation. I want to reassure you that the Linamar team is proactively and rapidly dealing with this crisis, regularly adapting plans as the situation evolves and communicating constantly with our people. Here are some updates of the actions we are taking:
- Our Task Force meets frequently to assess the global situation in terms of our people, our customers, our financial situation and government reaction and the resultant impact on us
- We are carefully tracking the health status of our global employee base daily and reacting rapidly to any incidence of the virus
- The safety of our employee base is of course top of mind
- We have a variety of employees working from home, on sick leave, on lay off or at work
- We have clear protocols for when an employee is required to self-isolate or self-quarantine and when they are permitted to return to work
- Anyone at work is observing our established working safety protocols including distancing, cleaning at the highest levels, etc.
- We are looking at additional ideas to continue to enhance our working safely protocols in recognition of the fact that post shutdown this virus will not be eradicated and we need to develop strategies to work in this environment for potentially an extended period of time
- We are working closely in tandem with our customers
- If our customers are working we are working, if they shut down we shut down
- In Ontario and several US states manufacturing businesses (particularly in agriculture or auto) are considered essential which does allow us to work if our customers need us
- Some countries Eg. France and Italy are fully shutdown including manufacturing
- Many of our European and NA customers are currently shut down meaning a large percentage of our work force is also not working
- Our Access business is seeing soft demand and cutting back accordingly as well
- Our China operations on the other hand are ramping back up with 95% of employees back at work to serve customers slowly ramping up as well
- We are working closely with customers to ensure a safe and flawless re-launch when production resumes
- Clearly this major shutdown will have a significant impact on us financially
- Cash conservation and cost control are top of mind to mitigate this impact
- We have moved quickly to cut costs and capital spending
- We have created a global team to pursue additional cost and waste reduction initiatives
- We have immediately implemented highest level cash payment controls
- We have a system in place for efficiently adjusting financial forecasts on a weekly basis with our global team giving us excellent up to the minute visibility
- Our balance sheet is strong and we are carefully stress testing to understand our limits; we remain confident that our focus and responsiveness in this area will see us through this situation financially even in the event of a prolonged shutdown period
- Even if auto shutdowns continue longer in Q2 than currently announced we expect our 2020 full year results to still show a profit, generate positive FCF and we do not expect to trip covenants
- We have no debt maturing this year
- Predicting the outcome of this situation is impossible but our reaction is swift and we are keeping a close eye on all expected impacts
- We have several initiatives under way to support our communities globally:
- We are assisting 2 Ontario based ventilator companies to rapidly scale up production with an approved design
- We are launching 12 components for a ventilator for a customer in the US, start of production is April 6th
- We are investigating similar opportunities in Europe to help increase the supply of ventilators
- Our Trucking & Logistics Division is working with local Food Banks to ensure vulnerable people in isolation are getting healthy food
- Finally we are leveraging our Global Supply Chain capabilities to source much needed PPE (personal protective equipment) for front line health care workers in our local communities
Linamar is a highly responsive, nimble company; we have demonstrated in the past our ability to act quickly and decisively in a crisis and we are doing so now as well. In summary we are staying informed to advise good decision making and communication, acting quickly and decisively. We went into this crisis in a very strong situation financially and are confident in our plan to manage the situation. We will continue to communicate with you regularly. Thank you for your confidence in the team here at Linamar. Sincerely, Linda HasenfratzCEO
March 17, 2020 Dear Shareholders: I am sure many of you are concerned by the situation evolving around the world in reaction to the COVID-19 virus pandemic and the impact on your investment in Linamar. These are unprecedented times with business and school closures, quarantine being imposed in some countries and financial markets highly volatile. The bottom line is we likely need to get used to some level of volatility and change over the next few months. I want to reassure you that the Linamar team is proactively and rapidly dealing with this crisis.
- Linamar has established a Task Force to deal with the COVID-19 situation and a comprehensive Action Plan which we are executing on.
- We are gathering information daily from our global operations, adjusting plans as required and communicating regularly to key stakeholders all pertinent information.
- We are keeping our employees safe, our customers supplied with their needs and mitigating the financial impact of the situation as best we can.
- We have protocols and technical support established to deal with employees needing to work from home
- We have protocols in place to follow in the instance of one or more confirmed case(s) of COVID-19 in any facility
- We have protocols in place for employees to follow when at work
- We are interacting closely with customers to ensure we are working in tandem – if our customers reduce demand then we will reduce our production as well, if they are operating as per normal so are we
- We are starting to see some notices of temporary customer shut downs and are reacting accordingly, as of now this has been focused in Europe
- Our China operations were shut down earlier in the year but 95% of employees are now back at work to support a slowly recovering customer base in China
- As of the moment we have no confirmed cases of the virus in our employee base including in China; we do have employees self-quarantining or self-isolating in a variety of locations many of whom are working remotely
- We have the global team laser focused on cash conservation and cost control to help mitigate the financial impact
- We have a strong balance sheet thanks to a strong year last year in free cash flow and can withstand the tough months ahead
- Linamar is a highly responsive, nimble company; we have demonstrated in the past our ability to act quickly and decisively in a crisis and we will now as well
In summary we are staying informed to advise good decision making and communication, acting quickly and decisively. We are in a very strong situation financially, we will be gathering the facts regularly to ensure our team is up to date and keeping up communications with you, our shareholders, regularly as well. Thank you for your confidence in the team here at Linamar. Sincerely, Linda HasenfratzCEO
April 20, 2020
Linamar Corporation today released commentary regarding ongoing COVID-19 related impacts to its business and provided the latest available updated industry conditions in the key Access, Agriculture and Automotive markets in which it operates. The Q1 and COVID-19 Related Update on Market Conditions presentation deck highlighting the key actions, market impacts and response efforts containing further details can be found here.
April 20, 2020
Linamar Corporation today released commentary regarding ongoing COVID-19 related impacts to its business and provided the latest available updated industry conditions in the key Access, Agriculture and Automotive markets in which it operates. The Q1 and COVID-19 Related Update on Market Conditions presentation deck highlighting the key actions, market impacts and response efforts containing further details can be found here.
April 20, 2020
Linamar Corporation today released commentary regarding ongoing COVID-19 related impacts to its business and provided the latest available updated industry conditions in the key Access, Agriculture and Automotive markets in which it operates. The Q1 and COVID-19 Related Update on Market Conditions presentation deck highlighting the key actions, market impacts and response efforts containing further details can be found here.
April 20, 2020
