Finance

Annual impact report 2020

A year of ups and downs

This Annual Impact Report is a story filled with ups and downs. After three years of steady growth, Dopper had plans for international expansion. To reach more people than ever before with our message to save our oceans from plastic pollution. To facilitate that, in 2019 we’d expanded our team and committed to moving to the most beautiful sustainable building in Haarlem.

Then, Covid-19 took hold. While we did move to our new building in 2020, in many areas we had to take a step back. Rethink strategies. And – hardest of all – say goodbye to part of the team.

Analysis of financial results

The turnover of Dopper B.V. for the year 2020 was € 12.8 million, down from € 19.5 million in 2019. This decrease can be directly linked to the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent government measures. Consequently, the result after tax fell from € 4.5 million in 2019 to € 2 million in 2020.

2020 taught us how important it is to have full control over the numbers and to be able to react quickly to an uncertain future.

These financial results are based on the annual report 2020. For more details, download the summary page below (Dutch only).

Covid-19

We achieved a great result in Q1 2020, but saw our turnover drop to almost zero immediately after the first government press conference in the Netherlands. Retailers withdrew orders, events were cancelled and consumers stayed home. We decided to make a long-term plan so that Dopper and its mission could continue to exist at all times.

Adjusting to the situation
It was clear to us that this pandemic would last a long time and that Dopper would have to take strict measures to survive it. In April 2020, we adjusted our budget and target to a new scenario, which meant that we had to let go of about 1/3 of our team: people who had been hired to help Dopper grow abroad, something we no longer saw happening.

Turning things around

As of 1 July, we had a smaller team, smaller budgets, adjusted plans and saw a slight increase in our sales, especially online. Ultimately, the year ended well thanks to our clear plan, full control of expenditure and the team’s creativity in staying relevant – even when consumers were at home.

Plans on hold
Due to the uncertain times, we had to put large projects and international plans on hold in 2020 to protect ourselves. We paid extra attention to our liquidity and created an extra buffer to secure the business – thinking that if things returned to normal, we’d have the budget to move forward.

Positive outlook

Corona continued to impact the organisation for the rest of 2020. With the ongoing recovery from the pandemic, we can once again operate under more normal conditions. This is reflected in the improvement of sales and gross margin in 2021. Given these developments, the outlook for 2021 is positive.

Sign up for our newsletter