Case Studies

When I joined, Eurofiltec SA, was a £4.5m French based group which had historically been a highly profitable entity involved in the design, manufacture and servicing of process filtration equipment and consumables.  The business operated in the nuclear, petrochemical and beverage industries.   When my Partner and I sold the business in 2004, sales had grown to £10m and it was generating cash and profits.

During the mid 90's the management team had lost part of a major nuclear consumables contract and the business needed to be re-focused towards customer service and working capital control.  I was brought in to restore business profitability and restructure the business.

The business reacted well to a more proactive management style and the refocusing of the company into service and consumables also gave a fast boost to profits and cash.

During this assignment my main skills and competences that came most into play are listed below with supporting commentary and notes of my personal achievements:

• Undertook a full business review:
  • Detailed assessment of the current state of the record and accounting;
  • Understanding of working capital drivers and made cash a priority;
  • Review of sales forecasting and the accuracy of projections;
  • Reviewed contact risks and developed contract tracking system;
  • Assessed skill levels and skill gaps throughout the business;
• Wrote a business recovery strategy and implemented profitable change:
  • Suceeded in obtaining support from the union and workforce;
  • Established benchmarks and KPI's resulting in a return to profitability;
  • Increased sales from £3.6m in 88/9 to £6.5m in 99/00;
  • Increased EBIT from a loss of £(540k) in 88/89 to £1.1m in 99/00;
  • Reduced working capital by £700k via stock and debtor reductions;
  • Opened spares markets and grew sales by £1m, profit by £300k;
  • Ensured that all contracts were profitable and cash positive;
  • Made suppliers and customers part of the communication system;
• Recruited a new management team:
  • Recruited finance, production and sales directors;
• Purchased the business:
  • Undertook an MBO in April 2000 - funded by debt;
• Acquired a competitor:
  • Acquired a competitor in the UK who had a manufacturing facility;
• Disposed of business to a trade buyer in 2004.

DavyMarkham is a 180 year old engineering company with a turnover of £20m involved in the design, manufacture, assembly and installation of extremely large engineering components and assemblies.  The Company holds a unique position based upon its ability to handle and transport individual components weighing up to 350t.

Various amalgamations and ownership changes over the last 20 years resulted in the company being neglected, starved of funding and lacking in good strategic direction.

I was appointed in March 2006 with a mandate to either close the business or prepare it for disposal.

The business at this time was incurring losses of £350k per  month and was consuming considerable quantities of cash.

Within 12 months I stabilised the business, returned it to profit and replaced the management team.  The new FD and I decided that we could raise funds for an MBO and completed the transaction in July 2007.  The business made a profit of £750k in 2008.

During this assignment my main skills and competences that came most into play are listed below with supporting commentary and notes of my personal achievements:

• Stabilisation of loss making business:
  • Detailed review of the working capital, costing methods and plant condition;
  • Returned the business to break even and cash generative position;
• Formulation and implementation of new strategy:
  • Formal presentation to all business partners (unions; suppliers; customers and bankers) explaining their roles in the execution of the new strategy;
  • Implementation program with milestones and actions against individuals;
  • Returning business to profitability and generating cash;
  • Implemented tight controls throughout the business saving £600k pa;
  • Selective increases in prices by up to 30% to restore account profitability;
  • Management generated 13 week cash flow forecast;
  • Demanded up front payments which resulted in a cash surplus of £1m;
• Improvement in health and safety management:
  • Made H&S the number one priority throughout the business;
  • Implemented risk assessment procedures for all business activities;
• Productivity initiatives and improvements:
  • Established and monitored KPI's with corrective actions for deviations;
  • Improved production efficiency by 27% through better downtime analysis;
  • Introduced continuous improvement techniques investing £150k in Capex;
• MBO in July 2007 - profit in 2008, £750k:
  • Implemented an apprentice training scheme (costing £300k);
  • Invested £2.0m in plant maintenance, marketing and training;
  • Sold business to a trade buyer in 2010 and worked for the new owner for twelve months in the role of MD.