Examples of existing assignments
- Chief executive of a UK building supplies company
- Chief executive of the UK subsidiary of a European chemicals company
- Chief executive of a quoted UK speciality chemicals company with a mandate to sell the company
- Chief executive of a UK engineering subsidiary of a large international power and transport company
- Chief executive of an international division of a quoted UK healthcare company
- Finance Director of a UK public sector agency
- Finance Director of a UK software development and business services company backed by private equity
- Finance Director of an international consumer products company in recovery
- Finance Director of a UK overnight parcels delivery business
- Finance Director of a UK manufacturer of leisure equipment
- Finance Director of a UK quoted internet security company
- Change Manager for a quoted UK housebuilder (SAP implementation)
- IT Director for a privatised UK government agency
- IT Director Europe for a US employee benefits consultancy
- Chief Operating Officer of a UK timber company Property
- Director for a UK leisure company planning to launch IPO
- Project Manager for move to new City centre
- Head Office for major retailer Project Manager for transfer of life assurance customer service and back-office functions to third-party administrator
- Project Director for establishment of new distribution channel for long-term savings products for a major UK bank
- Compensation and Reward Director for major UK food retailer Business Development and Corporate
- Development directors (two assignments) for new business sponsored by UK utility company
- IT Programme Director, project rescue Financial Services
Case Studies
1.FINANCIAL SERVICES - Business & Organisation Development
LIFFE (London International Financial Futures & Options Exchange)
6/1998 - 11/2000
Established in 1982, LIFFE had grown to be one of the three largest exchanges in the world, executing some £200Bn of trades daily.
With the loss of the German Government Bond contract to the Deutsche Bourse early in 1998 LIFFE was forced to abandon open outcry pit based trading and transfer to an electronic trading platform.
LIFFE turned to EIM to strengthen the management team for this transformation programme.
EIM provided a transformation team consisting of an interim Finance Director, Business Development Director, Information Technology Director and Systems Development Director.
The transformation was a success. Pit based trading has ceased and the London market opened up to international electronic trading. The success of this change attracted significant US VC investment funding and the sale of the new technology platform to TIFFE (Tokyo Financial Futures and Options Exchange) and others. LIFFE became the subject of a take-over bid in the autumn of 2001 and is now owned by Euronext, the consortium of the Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam Bourses.
2. MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION – Turnaround and Restructuring
BAC Ltd, 6/1999 to 1/2001
£45m turnover family-owned double glazing and conservatory company
After 30 years of success, had run into problems, incurring operating losses for 3 years end experiencing liquidity issues
EIM was invited in by the family at the instigation of the independent NEDs, initially putting in a CFO, followed shortly after by a CEO once the former had created awareness of the gravity of the problems
Main issues were lax management, over-aggressive expansion and inadequate quality control, resulting in a torrent of warranty claims
Short-term measures focused on cash management and expense control improvement and renegotiating loan terms with the banks
Medium-term, operations were rationalised with the (high warranty exposure) conservatory fitting business closed down, sales controls tightened, non-profitable contracts
discontinued and low volume product manufacture outsourced
Company was restored to trading profitability, but still exposed to historical warranty claims
Restructuring through a CVA (Creditors Voluntary Arrangement) ring-fenced the old liabilities and left the company to run as a healthy and profitable going concern
Once EIM had recruited a new permanent CEO and CFO for the family, the team withdrew
3. BUSINESS SUPPLIES – Recovery and Divestment
Novara PLC, 5/2000 to 4/2001
Fully LSE listed £100m turnover manufacturer and distributor supplying the specialist education and healthcare markets; a domestic market leader with a considerable international presence
The City had become disenchanted with the company after 4 years of underperformance since its 1994 flotation, with the share price halving in that time
Severe trading problems arose in 1998/99 as a result of the company’s failure to properly manage the integration of a major acquisition (merger), exacerbated by the subsequent mishandling of the introduction of a new ERP system and simultaneous warehousing and logistics reorganisation – driving a first-time operating loss and an excessive debt burden, with gearing at 110%
The Chaiman had dispensed with the services of the CEO and invited EIM to solve the company’s problems
Within 2 weeks the EIM Manager had been presented at the company’s AGM
In first 3 months implemented short-term imperatives: tightening expense controls, improving working capital management and putting in temporary supply chain fixes
Then strengthened B/S (by selling off surplus property and reducing debt), rebranded products under the old (better known) brand names, streamlined and reorganised management structure, reeingineered ERP processes around a customer focus
Within 9 months the company had been restored to profitability
Arranged sale of the company to main competitor, doubling shareholder value over the 12 month period
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