Case Studies – examples of business improvement

• Business A – Cash flow nightmare
  Small wonder the company was always short of cash when over 40% of turnover was sitting in the court room as customers disputed the commercial contract terms. Meanwhile, the directors were under the illusion that the business was profitable – and were paying tax to boot.
  • I re-engineered the commercial proposition and took over negotiation of all outstanding disputes.  The results – 15% increase in real sales, release of two full time executives (300 man hours per month) and a £500,000 boost in cash through reducing working capital, all within six months.

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• Business B – The Gestapo Comes to Call
  This firm had long overdue VAT and PAYE liabilities of £770,000.   The directors were distressed by aggressive demands, including a threat to wind up the business.
  • I intervened to agree a strategy, negotiate with the authorities and implement a change in financial rules, policies and procedures to ensure the problems would not re-occur in the future.

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• Business C – The Deckchair in the Caribbean
  There comes a point when moving on in business is very attractive and this company wanted to find a buyer that would pay the highest value possible to the shareholders.
  • I instigated a careful assessment of all the financial issues, identified the likely purchasers and prepared the sales memorandum to suit. The key was to portray the business in its most favourable light, with rising trends of core revenue streams, exclusion of exceptional costs, and clarity throughout due diligence whilst managing the business to minimise the working capital involved and so place more capital value on the equity in the business.
  • Within a year the business was sold to a large US Group for over four times its Net Assets, considerably more than the directors had originally anticipated. The result was a successful sale to a US Group at a relatively large valuation

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• Business D – Paper, paper everywhere.
  The system was in meltdown.  All of the statutory accounts and corporation tax returns were significantly overdue; the directors were threatened with prosecution and were trying to manage the business armed only with a set of financial accounts that meant nothing to anyone in the team.
  • I negotiated a standstill agreement with Companies House and organised the information and the auditors so that new deadlines were met. All fines were waived. 

    I then re-engineered the business into discrete revenue streams, created a cash contribution model that identified which parts of the business made most money.  This gave the management immediate control over their portfolio – all at the push of a button - and led to a shift in operating structure and a total overhaul of pricing.