LIAR LIAR!!

So Paul O'Brien can justify the falling turnover and profits at the Quinn Group by stating that we are in a recession. How nice for him to have a convenient excuse.

Unfortunately for him, a very cursory look at his competitors proves that this is not in fact the reason. The fact of the matter is that his main competitors, Kingspan, CRH and Lafarge (who have a factory in Cookstown) are all reporting increases both in turnover and in profits over the past two years, and are forecasting that this will continue into the future. What an inconvenient fact that Pauly has chosen to ignore. It would be very interesting to hear him stutter some sort of reply to that accusation.

Perhaps if he chose to look at the way that the business has been run over the past two and a half years, it might bring him a little closer to the real truth. His profits are dropping every single quarter. This is despite the fact that he has actually sold more cement in 2013 than he did in 2012. So what is he doing wrong? Well, if you read this Pauly, as I believe you do, here are a few pointers:

1) When people want to buy things, have it ready and deliver it to them in a reasonable time. You are not currently doing this, and there are 6 weeks delivery times on rooftiles, floors and lite-weight blocks. This is not acceptable, and people will go elsewhere.

2) In order to achieve 1), you will need to revert to the old tradition of ensuring that your plants are well-maintained and serviced, which will necessitate keeping a stock of spare parts, and spending money on maintenance. The breakdowns that currently take place are not helping the business. It is unfortunate that this advice competes directly with your apparent goal of removing as much money as possible from the business, and you are unlikely to take it.

3) Respect and motivate your staff. You can do this by showing up to work more than occasionally, and by not taking them to be fools and lying to them.

Oh that some of this would happen.......