Victrex : proactive actions on COVID-19

UPDATED 28th May 2021

Safety, health and well-being of our people

At Victrex, the safety, health and well-being of all our employees is the highest priority. We established a COVID-19 committee at the start of 2020 and continue to take appropriate precautions and remain proactive in our approach.

Chemicals as an essential industry

The UK government defines Chemicals as an essential industry with essential workers, with Victrex also having a long-standing history in supporting many critical and 'life-sustaining' applications, particularly in Medical. In the US, we continue to operate on an ongoing modified basis, defined as being a 'life-sustaining' organisation in several states. Overall, our supply chain continues to function effectively.

Whilst global vaccination rates are progressing strongly, over two-thirds of our global employees are homeworking, where we have taken measures to reduce staffing levels to only business-critical employees and those essential to running our plants and shipping products. Our China technical centre has been open since Autumn 2020 and operating under appropriate guidelines.

Return to site preparedness

In the UK, we are targeting a Return to Site from July 2021, subject to UK government guidelines. Plans for US Return to Site are also in development.

As such, our guiding principle is that where employees are working from home, they should continue to do so at the current time.Victrex continues to function very effectively and we have already fully risk assessed offices for when Return to Site is required. These risk assessments are only in consultation and approval through our COVID-19 committee.

Customers

Overall our employees, including those customer-facing, remain contactable as normal by phone and email in home offices, ready to serve customers. Some limited travel to customers is occuring globally, mainly in China, although we anticipate a greater proportion of travel to customers in the US and eventually Europe.

Our raw material and finished goods stocks remain appropriate at the current time for our customers, with global warehouses able to supplement our production. Nearly 100% of our customer deliveries have been on time in full (OTIF) since the onset of COVID-19.

Communities

Victrex already has a strong track record of supporting our communities wherever we operate globally. To date, we have seen community volunteering, the manufacture of 3D printed masks and manufacture of ear savers for masks from recycled material in one of our facilities. We continue to play our part.

Financial position

Our financial position remains robust, with healthy cash generation as we see a solid recovery from the impact of COVID-19.

In summary:

• Victrex will continue to produce, in line with UK government guidance where Chemicals is defined as an essential industry
• In the US, we are continuing modified operations
• We are safeguarding production and our supply chain by asking staff to work from home and reducing staffing levels to only business-critical employees and those essential to running our plants and shipping products, or key development work, or by segregating members of our operations and supply chain team accordingly
• Our employees, including those customer-facing, remain contactable as normal by phone and email in home offices, ready to serve customers
• We expect to see a greater Return to Site in the UK and US from July 2021
• Our AITC offices in China (Shanghai) remain fully open