Monarch Brands Update March 25

Good Evening,

I wanted to give an update regarding our business and progress status during these historic times. Our work shifts have been getting into more of a routine handing off work from morning to evening staff. We have been fortunate that order volumes are holding up and being received daily. The team has been amazing. I do understand there are additional stresses in your work environment, home, and life in general. The future and outcome of these events are still unknown, and it is an unnerving time. What I can say is that with your focus, spirit, and flexibility, we can pull through this together. Everyone has been truly amazing, and we are fortunate to have such a fantastic group working through a very uncertain business environment.

Yesterday, we were informed that our major sources of supply (located in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India) are shutting down for a minimum of two weeks. I believe this is going to add additional pressure on order volume over time, as other competitors begin to run short on inventories. Monarch Brands will measure selling decisions carefully to ensure we have products available for our loyal customer base. We will continue to maintain our competitive price points in the industry. We have large stocks in the warehouse and in transit, which should allow us to continue exceeding our customer expectations for the foreseeable future.

It is projected by the end of the second quarter that unemployment will be between 10-15%. Nearly 80 million jobs in the US economy are at high or moderate risk today, according to analysis in the last week from Moody’s Analytics. That’s more than half of the 153 million jobs in the economy overall. Because of your hard work during these times, we have been able to maintain our entire team. I appreciate your focus, level of intensity, and embodiment of our core values.

We will distribute disposable gloves for all warehouse work. Please ask your supervisor for a pair to use each shift. Additionally, we have ordered face shields for all team activities (arriving Monday). We would like everyone who works in a group or cannot maintain a six feet social distance during the workday to wear these shields. Please do your best to keep social distancing in mind, wash your hands frequency, and stay home if you feel sick in any way. It is with your help that we keep our coworkers as safe as possible.

I appreciate the effort and hard work we have all put forward. Our business, families, and futures all depend on maintaining this focus and positive spirit during these unprecedented times.

Thank you. I look forward to seeing you all some point soon,

-Hal