You are Naomi Okafor, three weeks into the job as chief executive of Meridian Freight & Fulfilment, a listed logistics company in Coventry. Your two largest clients have sounded the alarm in the same week, and the board has given you twelve months and £60 million. Before the board meets this afternoon, you must say what kind of change Meridian is going through.
The situation
It is March 2026. Meridian runs warehousing and e-commerce fulfilment for retailers: £740 million of revenue, a 4.2% operating margin (about £31 million) and £22 million of free cash flow a year. Its 5,800 people have stayed, on average, eleven years; 62% of depot operatives belong to a union. You were hired from outside, after a decade of turnarounds at two European logistics groups, precisely because you have no history here.
The fashion-marketplace client, £154 million a year and 21% of revenue, has told the board that its contract, up for renewal in eleven months, is "under strategic review": rival operators already offer automated, data-integrated fulfilment and Meridian does not. Days later the grocery client, worth £186 million a year, asked for a 9% cut in what it pays. The share price fell 18% on the two announcements.
The board has approved up to £60 million over three years for automation, data systems and the skills behind them. Automating the two flagship depots would touch about 900 frontline roles. The latest staff survey puts engagement at 41%, and only 23% of staff can describe where the company is heading.
Every director has a different word for what is happening. One calls it a fight to keep the business; another, a cost programme; a third, the chance to win the same-day contracts rivals are taking. The name you give it will decide what the money is for and what 5,800 people hear first.