A Case Study to give hope for companies in trouble
In late 2012 one of the banks approached us to see if we could help one of their struggling customers.
The business was owned and managed by a husband and wife team which at face value was quite prosperous but behind the scenes was fully utilising their borrowing facilities and often running into excesses. The bank manager was quite worried that the account could go through an escalation process which might trigger an insolvency procedure.
On our first visit to the client, which was conducted free of charge, highlighted a number of areas of weakness so we obtained the agreement of the Directors;
- To change their working routine to increase the supervision in their workshop
- To look at all potential areas of waste
Our next task was to undertake an in-depth examination of their sales invoices to compare their charges with their competitors. From this, we discovered they were under-pricing some of their work to a major customer which had the potential for a significant increase in their gross margins.
Returning to the areas that the Directors agreed to look at, we soon discovered that an unnecessary amount of overtime was being worked by the staff and in the following weeks revealed a large amount of raw material wastage.
Our work continues with them but already they are working well within their borrowing facilities and are on track to repay all borrowings by early 2014. In addition, the Directors have repaid some personal loans which they were using to support the business.
Recently, one of the Directors has said to us that they were on the verge of closing the business before they met us. Now their life has change completely and they are looking at an expansion programme.
If your business is suffering from any of these symptoms, call Phil Stanyer on 07809 448115 or email him on phil.stanyer@tgba.co.uk