Company: High end furniture manufacturing business
Industry: Manufacturing
When: Jan 2016
Why did you seek intervention?
Established in 2001, the company has grown from a start-up to a well-established business. The business continues to grow and expands its geographical reach. To our surprise, we were called by our bank for a meeting, shortly after we filed our annual accounts. We were seen as high-risk, despite being profitable, having sales growth and having cash in the bank. We were told that we would have to pay higher interest rates and we would have restricted access to further funding. The problem was inadequate cash flow.
What was the outcome of the engagement with BMIM Cash Flow?
Gained deep understanding of the importance of cash and debt – the ‘real’ measures of company’s performance.
Reduced the debtors days by 5 days (from 75 days to 70 days) and the inventory by 15 days to improve the negative cash position from -£3m to -£1m (reduction by 60%) and change the working capital.
Constructed KPIs for working capital and profitability to measure the progress of the business
Restored the broken relationship with the bank
Recommendations
We are now able to be in control of our business. We were going backwards in cash without realising. Working with BMIM Cash Flow, with clear definitions of success, we turned around the business cash flow very quickly. We have restored the relationship with the bank who were astounded by our rapid turnaround and significant debt reductions. We now understand that we can get away with most mistakes, but not if we run out of cash.
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