The year 2020 has been a wild ride. COVID -19, large fires up and down the west coast, Hurricanes off the East Coast, riots in major cities throughout the United States, and an election that took weeks to settle. Our economy has been pushed to its limits, to understand what the future holds is very difficult. The one thing we do know for curtain is Construction is the best way to stimulate an economy and get people working again with money flowing for business and economic growth.
What does this all mean to Griffith Company? As we prepare to close our books on 2020, we did very well this year even with the turmoil. The Stockholders should get over a 20% return on their equity. We still have good backlog for next year but could use more for 2022. This leaves us in a good place to build profitable work without lowering our margins. Our overhead will undoubtedly rise given increased insurance costs from the fires, riots and natural disasters. This is something we can manage and will have to pass on to our customers. We are in high hopes for a new stimulus transportation bill from the Federal Highway Administration, and with a new president this is more likely to happen because it will help the economy and it is now politically feasible. A long-term Federal Highway bill has been deadlocked for the last four years over competing interests between the two parties. We hope a bill can be passed in the coming year.
As to COVID-19 we all must strive to stay safe. Please respect others by wearing your mask, staying 6 feet apart and washing your hands. We need all businesses to get back to work. We will continue to have issues with our permitting and design approval processes with so many employees from engineering firms, Cities, Counties and State working from home. This impacts our ability to put work in place, but eventually they will catch up with us. Without having a steady revenue stream or adequate engineering service, our industry suffers. I’m looking forward to a more predictable, profitable, sociable, and fun next year.