MERIDIAN GROUP QUARTERLY OPERATIONS REVIEW Quarter 3, 2026 (July to September) Prepared by: Operations Planning Status: Draft for management review Classification: SAMPLE DATA. This document is training material. Every name, figure and event in it is invented. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. SUMMARY Meridian Group closed Quarter 3 with revenue slightly ahead of plan and costs meaningfully above it. Headcount fell for the third quarter running. Customer satisfaction declined in two of four service channels. The board asked for a position on the operating cost overrun before the next budget cycle opens. Three issues need a decision this quarter: a. The operating cost overrun, concentrated in two departments. b. Response times in the Customer Care channel. c. The unfilled vacancies in Customer Care and Logistics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. FINANCIAL POSITION Revenue for the quarter was 4,180,000 KD against a plan of 4,090,000 KD. That is 2.2% ahead of plan. Operating costs by department: Department Budget (KD) Actual (KD) Variance (KD) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Operations 820,000 901,500 81,500 Customer Care 310,000 344,000 34,000 Logistics 640,000 742,000 102,000 Marketing 280,000 219,500 (60,500) Finance 190,000 196,000 6,000 Human Resources 150,000 158,000 8,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL 2,390,000 2,561,000 151,000 The overrun is concentrated in Logistics and Operations, which together account for most of the variance. Marketing underspent by 60,500 KD, largely because two campaigns planned for September were deferred to Quarter 4. Logistics variance is 13.7% over budget. Operations variance is 9.9% over budget. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. PEOPLE Group headcount at the end of the quarter was 214, down from 227 at the start of the year. Thirteen people left and were not replaced. Leavers by department, year to date: Customer Care 6 Logistics 4 Operations 2 Marketing 1 Open vacancies at quarter end: 9. Of these, 5 have been open for more than 90 days. The two longest are both in Customer Care. The group employed 219 people at the end of September, which is the lowest figure recorded since 2023. Recruitment note: the Human Resources team completed a full review of the recruitment process in November and has already implemented the recommendations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. CUSTOMER SERVICE Ticket volume rose 22% against the same quarter last year. The Customer Care team handled 14,200 tickets across four channels. Channel Tickets Agents Median first response Target --------------------------------------------------------------------- Email 6,100 5 7 hours 4 hours Phone 3,900 4 2 minutes 30 seconds WhatsApp 3,400 1 31 hours 4 hours Web form 800 1 14 hours 8 hours WhatsApp is the clearest problem. It carries a quarter of the volume on a single agent, and its median first response time has roughly tripled since March. Phone breaches its target on almost every call, but Phone also records the highest customer satisfaction score in the business at 4.4 out of 5. The target of 30 seconds was set in 2019 and has not been reviewed since. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. STAFF SURVEY The September staff survey was sent to all 214 employees. 161 responded, a response rate of 75%. Overall satisfaction by department (score out of 5): Procurement 4.33 (3 responses) Marketing 3.90 (18 responses) Finance 3.71 (21 responses) Human Resources 3.44 (9 responses) Operations 3.02 (47 responses) Logistics 2.88 (22 responses) Customer Care 2.56 (41 responses) Procurement is the strongest performing department in the group this quarter and its practices should be studied and rolled out more widely. The weakest single question across the whole company was recognition, at 2.50. Pay scored 3.10. Development scored 2.71. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. OPEN QUESTIONS FOR MANAGEMENT 1. Do we fund the Logistics overrun from the Marketing underspend, or take it to the board as a variation? 2. Do we fill the Customer Care vacancies, or move the WhatsApp channel to a shared queue? 3. Is the Phone response target still the right target? 4. Who owns the recognition finding from the staff survey? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. NEXT PERIOD Quarter 4 planning opens in the second week of October. Department heads are asked to submit revised forecasts by 20 October. The board pack closes on 28 October. END OF DOCUMENT