Skyfall Ends, Benchmark 3.0 begins: AGM 2024 CEO comment

22nd July 2024

Comment from Simon Moores, CEO, Benchmark for the Benchmark AGM 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

The annual meeting marks ten years since Benchmark’s foundation and the end to Project Skyfall, a period of time that oversaw Benchmark’s most significant growth and to become the world’s most valuable publishing business in commodities.

This is the end.

Skyfall has been a fixation of mine ever since the 23rd James Bond movie was released in 2012.

Back then I was not far away from leaving my role at Industrial Minerals magazine to create Benchmark… little did I know it at the time.

I have loved the James Bond movies ever since Goldeneye 007, a computer game on the N64, was released in 1997 and have spent far too much time delving into the world of Bond ever since.

Yet, when Skyfall was released, something felt very different at that specific time in my life.

Skyfall is a story of beginnings. It is a story of endings.

The setting is in London but its heart is in Scotland.

It is a story of going back in time to confront the past in order to create a new future. It is also a story of learning to say goodbye and to embrace the new.

I found this destroy and rebuild thematic very powerful: the concept that your past does not define, in absolute terms, your future.

But that everyone at some point must come to terms with their past in order to create something new and positive and to keep moving forward.

It is also poignant to consider that achievements and accolades are a fleeting moment and  ultimately belong in the past.

For sure, achievements in life must be celebrated at the time – and we’ve been good at that – but one must never dwell upon them, live in the past.

Instead there has to be an intense focus on facing the challenges of today to constantly improve and evolve.

It is now Benchmark’s time to ask: what’s next?

When we launched Project Skyfall at the Oxford AGM in 2021, the concept was quite simple: build an organisation that was fit for the future and a platform on which we can fulfill our ambitions.

We were just shy of 60 people at that time.

This would see Benchmark significantly expand its services within the core divisions of: Prices  Data, Forecasting and Consultancy, Sustainability, Events, Sales and Marketing. We actually expanded even more than I expected.

As we sold more product, we welcomed more people, built more technology, and marketing and office functions emerged to support this.

I had underestimated this in hindsight but it was also something we were quick to react to and not afraid to throw investment at.

We are now surging towards 250 people making us the first commodity publisher to scale since the 1960s and the fastest growing and biggest team in the EV, battery supply chain and critical minerals chain arena.

While competitors may try and bamboozle clients with size and scope, we are a business built on the very bedrock of this global battery arms race.

Much like Tesla building the electric vehicle around the lithium ion battery: every product, every function, every decision, how we think and how we plan for the future has been born from this energy storage megatrend.

Benchmark has been there since the start with our prices, data and market intelligence orchestrating a trillion dollar global megatrend.

This is special and cannot be underestimated or taken for granted.

On a personal but unspoken note, Project Skyfall meant to build an organisation that could welcome a professional, institutional level investor.

In 2023, we achieved that when Spectrum Equity purchased a 20% minority, non controlling stake in Benchmark to help to take us to that next level.

It made us the most valuable company in the world for what we do. Recognition from King Charles III and Prime Minister Sunak followed.

We have also since showcased our ability to execute serious M&A deals, welcoming Rho Motion to Team Benchmark. 

A new era will rise: Benchmark 3.0

We have now arrived at that next level which means Skyfall must end tonight… at Skyfall. There we will witness one era burn to the ground and a new era rise from its ashes.

This new era will be the third iteration of the company and will be owned and driven by a new generation. 

The Skyfall Ends Closing Ceremony will include the launch of the new Skyfall Awards: Team Benchmark Awards for Excellence where we recognise special achievements within the company and showcase unique personality traits befitting of a Benchmarker.

This will be an annual celebration at each and every AGM going forward.

Not only does this mean Skyfall’s spirit will live forever within Benchmark but it gives us a chance to celebrate the people that are changing the core of what we do for the better.

This harnessing of the right personalities is what creates true change and creates opportunity for the team and for the individual.

The impact that can be had by consistent hard work when combined with selflessness is incredible.

This has to go hand in hand with relentless positivity and a belief that doing the right things will pay off and yield success.

Our next chapter begins this evening yet the essence of what got us here today will be at the heart of what makes us successful in the future.

Benchmark is real world evidence of this spirit: the value of giving everything or nothing at all.