Case Studies
Strategic Growth
SPECIALIST ENGINEERING
A UK based, multinational engineering group supplying products to the Emergency services and the Construction industry in the UK, US, Australia and China.
A 23 multi-bank substantial refinancing and carve out operation of these fundamentally sound businesses required a cohesive, strategic value growth plan to support the expected aspirations of the large stakeholder group. As the board lead, Tony successfully worked with an executive team and divisional MD’s to implement these growth plans. As a result of this focus the Group grew by 25% in revenue but returned a 250% growth in profitability. In turn this drove a c $250m value generation for the stakeholder group in just over 3 years. Consequently the business was successfully sold to a trade buyer.
ELECTRONICS
Tony was the VP, Corporate Development M&A and post M&A Integration for one of North America’s largest NYSE listed global Electronic Manufacturing Supplier businesses.
Tony led the strategic evaluation of potential acquisitions across the globe. This involved due diligence, integration planning and implementation with teams based in North & South America, Europe and throughout Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and Japan. All were multinational legal and financial jurisdictional deals.
Transformation
OPTIONS REVIEW FOR LARGE O&G GROUP UNDER PE OWNERSHIP
Completed and then implemented options review for a PE owner of 4 large divisional sites, 2 based in England and 2 in Scotland. Suppliers to rail, oil &gas and offshore wind sectors. All the sites struggling with over capacity with one significantly loss making and consuming considerable cash.
Post the review, closed 1 site in England and restructured the others. Consolidated some of the equipment from the site closure, relaying out the remaining site to improve manufacturing efficiencies with then additions of some of the equipment. The remaining equipment sold at auction to businesses around the world at a substantial price above net book value that provided a much needed cash injection into the Group.
Recommended board structure and new divisional MD to the Group CEO that was accepted and appointed.
The removal of the 1 site substantially reduced the debt burden on the Group and as a result the restructuring doubled the value of the wider Group.
FMCG
One of the UK’s leading snack food manufacturers.
A fundamentally sound business, just highly inefficiently run. Tony evaluated, transformed and increased the customer engagement processes, forecasting, material supply chain and operations procedures. This led to a doubling of the manufacturing output of the factory without the need to add any Capex. A case of making the same product, just in a more efficient way that benefitted all the stakeholders. A successful trade sale resulted in the debt fund investor being repaid.
LEISURE
A large, privately owned, leisure group with 18 outlets in major cities and towns in the UK.
These had successfully been organically added over the previous 20 years at the time of the assignment. However, although trading was still profitable, the Group needed to negotiate a substantial debt for equity swap with its primary lender.
Tony led the executive management team and implemented key measures internally to transform how the business conducted itself operationally and financially, but specifically at board level, to strengthen reporting and corporate governance. What the business did wasn’t substantially changed, but how it did it was. He then led negotiations with the lender to ensure they had significantly more confidence in the business which subsequently underpinned their agreement to a very successful debt for equity swap.
Turnaround
UK’S LARGEST ECOMMERCE SPARES SUPPLIER
Recommended by global restructuring consultancy and the business’ bank to strengthen the board as CRO, to drive value added transformation and as independent NED Chairman.
The business is the UK’s largest eCommerce supplier of spares, services and finished goods to the white goods sector with revenues of c £110m. 15% of the business also international.
Unviable balance sheet, substantially overleveraged (c£60m of senior and secondary debt), poor board leadership, falling sales, cash management, forecasting and operational issues resulting in breaching covenants and debt repayment schedules.
Restructured the business: removed 245 heads across all functions, terminated loss making product lines, negotiated >£2.5m TTP’s on VAT / PAYE & Corporation tax with HMRC and audit issues, put French subsidiary into administration, terminated China JV and entered separate negotiations with HMRC over tax liabilities that went back 10 years to 2013.
Eventually, with all stakeholder consent, sold the business to a large PLC trade buyer, thereby saving 400+ jobs and providing the business with a viable future.
SPECIALIST MANUFACTURING
One of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers of capital equipment for the food, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.
A Private Equity backed MBO that ran into difficulties due to a management team under-planning and overstretching resources, resulting in them having to make two substantial cash calls within a very short timeframe. This required end to end restructuring of its commercial, design, supply chain, manufacturing and financial structure. The successful outcome resulted in a 10% loss being replaced by a 6% profit in a 12-month period on flat sales during one of the UK’s worst banking crises of the previous 30 years.
SOFTWARE
A Value Added Reseller (VAR) and a developer and installer of their own branded IP based software into large multinational service providers to Government based sectors. UK based business with substantial subsidiaries in the US, Middle East and Australia. A continuance of long running covenant breaches and serious debt repayment issues to their funder who was also a 35% equity holder.
Tony was appointed to the board under requirement of the funder and ultimately given ‘Special Director’ status when made Chairman. Tony led the refocusing and the delivery of operational, financial and cash forecasting and delivery, restoring the business to a sound footing. As a result, and to the benefit of the initial funder, the business was successfully refinanced to a funder that was better suited to the specific requirements of a business in this sector and their longer term strategic needs.