The Client: Our client is a well known B2B IT service company in the City of London. It is an owner-managed business and the owner engaged PSG to grow his business and ensure that the correct framework was in place to cope with new revenue streams.
What We Did:
Our immediate task was to gather the key financial information of the company to assist in the formulation of a strategy to achieve our objectives. As the company did not have a full time accounts team or in-house accountant financial data was often out of date or compiled retrospectively on a quarterly basis when a part-time accountant was hired. Our team conducted a complete reconciliation of the accounts system and brought all the books up to date.
From our analysis of the financial data, which we split by revenue stream we quickly saw how profitable the business was on a line by line basis, this information was the backbone of our strategy. Once created our strategy saw the company open up 4 new complementary revenue streams, using in-house skills at no extra cost to the business.
The Outcome: Within 4 months of PSG implementing the new strategy for the company staff numbers had grown from 7 to 12, with an increase in revenue of £ 500,000 within the first full year of trading.
Today PSG provides the company with an outsourced financial control service which sees us take care of their day to day accounting. We are also delighted to be a Non-Executive Director on their board of Management and in 2010 we expect full year turnover to be in the region of £2,500,000
The Client: Our client is a freight & logistics company operating from 3 depots in Ireland and 6 in the UK.
Our Challenge:
The board of management felt that over the years the operation had grown disproportionately to the initial business plan and wanted to conduct a branch root review of the Financial, Strategic and operational actives to ensure that they had the best in class processes and efficiencies.
From our comprehensive review of the business which was concluded within 4 weeks of our engagement we found that the company had conflicting operations at its depots and due to the geographical locations of the 3 depots in Ireland some activities would be better suited to one depot in particular. We also found that the internal reporting of Financial information and key performance indicators was non-existent and the data from which management decisions was being made was often inaccurate and out of date.
It was becoming apparent to the board of management that the company was nearly always operating at break-even point and they felt that the security of the business would be under threat following a short period of low sales or an increase in costs such as fuel or insurance.
What We Did: We started by conducting peer group sessions with the employees of the company to understand what operational difficulties they were experiencing. It was important for us to do this as part of our initial review as this greatly speeded up the implementation of new work practices. Along with our research and information gathered from the meeting with the staff it was found that a number of functions where duplicated in each site.
This duplication of activities was eradicated in a new workflow management system that was developed for our client. Bar cording of in-transit freight was introduced to increase efficiency and to elevate work place stress and pressures from an operation that was entirely paper based. Our work also included the implementation of a new management reporting pack, which gave greater clarity to the management team and is now a set of key documents in the organization.
The Outcome:
Within 4 months of working with PSG the freight & distribution company started to show strong signs of growth. This growth was due to the increase of sales by 8% but more importantly by streamlining the business operations and introducing a bar-coding tracking system costs fell by 19%. The early signs of improvement have continued with sales up 20% and costs down 23% on a year to year basis.
The company has retained the services of PSG and we are currently exploring acquisition prospects for them.
The Client: Our client is a Business services company, supplying office equipment to companies in the greater Dublin area. After a period of poor service from other accountants, our client decided to contact PSG to see if we could help.
What We Did: Our remit was to take complete control of the finance function; it involved taking over Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable & cash and banking functions. We put in place a team to handle the data transfer. We worked with the business owner to understand where in the past he felt that he was not been supported by his old accountants. With this insight we put together a bespoke management reporting pack for him and put in key financial controls to his business that were not there already.
The Outcome: Our client now receives weekly management reports which detail key financial metrics and information which they use on a day to day basis in their decisions.
The Client: Our client, the owner of a Dublin-based manufacturing company, had decided to sell up and retire, but having invested all of his time and energy into building the business he did not know where to start when it came to selling his company. Our key task was to develop and implement a robust exit strategy for the business to maximise his return on a career spanning 30 years.
What We Did: We first analysed the current business situation, using various methods to calculate the value of the business which we compared to the owner’s expectations. Overall the business was in good condition financially and we knew that this would stand to us when we started the sales process. Our initial body of work was to prepare an information memorandum on the company. In tandem with this work our team was busy assembling all financial reports, contracts and particular patents that our client held for his products as we knew that having this information to hand would speed up the sales process.
From our possible list of buyers which we drew up we analysed their activity in the market place and whittled it down to a solid list of 10 possible buyers due to strategic fit or activity which was currently going on in the market place.
Acting as an intermediary, we then approached the 10 potential buyers to gauge interest and solicit offers. Price was never stated. Following the signing of confidentiality agreements and provision of details to interested parties, letters of intent were collected from serious buyers, who were made aware that others were also bidding. Following a period of consultation and review the most promising buyer was selected and it was announced that their letter of intent had been accepted
The Outcome: Having completed all necessary files required for the due diligence process this stage of the purchase was very swift, at this point we had a definitive purchase agreement in place. From start to finish the process took less than 8 months, with the seller receiving a cash only buy out.
The Client: Our client is a media company specialising in design and print production. After a good start to business the company experienced a plateau in their sales and then eventually a gradual fall.
What We Did: We quickly established that while first year sales had been very strong these were achieved by utilising contacts that the business owners had built up over the years and that the setting up of the business had been done without a business plan or clear strategy in place.
From this our plan of action was clear, we started by working one to one with key members of the business to understand what they hoped to achieve from the business and where they felt that the company should position itself in the market place. Aided by this information the team at PSG conducted a market research project and also decided to conduct focus groups from business owners in the area.
While working with the management team we also put in place a forecast for the company which was underpinned by a coherent business strategy. The business strategy recommended the business open up 3 new revenue streams and discontinue on line of their business.
The Outcome: Within 3 months of working with PSG our clients saw a 15% growth in sales. 6 months on from the implementation of our business strategy PSG were retained to secure finance for the company to purchase some new hardware. Following a period of consolation with their bank our client secured funding of €250,000 to purchase the new equipment. PSG have also been retained to do quarterly business reviews.