Specialist medium sized UK manufacturing company servicing pharmaceutical & foods sectors. Private equity led MBO underperformed for 3 years & consistently failed to meet its adventurous forecasts. James Wheeler introduced an interim CRO independently to re-evaluate the stakeholder’s options.

The CRO was tasked with delivering a new strategy to transform the business and set a path to profitability with a view to sale.

THE RESULT

New CEO & CFO appointed in week 2.

Interim controller appointed to establish bombproof forecasts & daily cash flow reporting.

Put in payment plans for key creditors: HMRC, pension fund and top 15 suppliers.

Closed invoice discounting facility to ease cash flow issues.

Set tough KPI’s to underpin the restructuring plan and as key matrices for the running of the business.

Restructured manufacturing master scheduling, detailed planning, purchasing and expediting.

Agreed 3 year strategic plan with investors.

Implemented head count & other fixed cost reductions.

Engineering / design cycle time reduced by 50%.

Work In Progress labour performance improved by 80%.

Year 1 revenue target of +34% substantially bettered to +48.2%.

3 years of losses converted to profit within 9 months.

Interim CRO reduced involvement after 12 months to become non exec Chairman with a focus on managing the sale of the business to a European group seeking entry into the UK market.