Calm hands on the numbers when it matters.
A structured recovery, run week by week by someone who has sat in this chair before. Cash under control first, then profit, then a business that can grow again.
West Mids Finance · Advisory in the room
Turnarounds are easier the earlier they start
Distress rarely arrives suddenly. It shows up as a series of small, survivable problems that nobody joins up. These are the four I see most often.
13 weeks
Cash forecast built in the first five days
6 levers
Reviewed for every business in recovery
Cash is a weekly conversation
You know the balance, but not the runway. Payments slip, and supplier terms are getting shorter.
Margin has quietly eroded
Revenue looks fine on the top line, yet profit is thinner every quarter and nobody agrees why.
The bank wants a plan
Covenant headroom is tight, a facility is up for renewal, or the lender has asked for reporting you do not have.
The team is in firefighting mode
Leadership meetings are about the next payment rather than the next quarter, and decisions are being deferred.
A sequence, not a rescue fantasy
No business is turned around by a slide deck. The order matters: liquidity, truth, decision, execution, then resilience.
- Week 1
Stabilise
Full cash visibility within five working days: a 13-week rolling forecast, committed payments, and a short list of levers that release cash without breaking the business.
- Week 2
See clearly
Rebuild the numbers from the ground up. True gross margin by product and customer, overhead analysis, and an honest trading position for the board.
- Week 3–4
Choose the path
Three credible options, each modelled for cash and profit: recover in place, restructure cost, or raise and reset. A recommendation, not a menu.
- Month 2–3
Execute weekly
A costed recovery plan with named owners, weekly tracking, and the difficult stakeholder conversations handled alongside the managing director.
- Month 4+
Rebuild the floor
Reporting, pricing discipline and a forecast that survives a bad month, so the business never returns to the same cliff edge.
Where the money usually is
In most distressed businesses, the first few weeks of work release more cash than the cost of the engagement. The job is to find it without damaging the trading relationships you will need later.
- Working capital: debtor chase, credit control, supplier terms, stock and WIP reduction
- Pricing and mix: increase where the market allows, exit the work that loses money
- Cost base: a zero-based review of overheads, not a flat percentage cut
- Cash conversion: invoicing discipline, deposit terms, staged payments
- Facilities: renegotiating covenants, asset refinance, invoice finance
- People: align the team to the plan and handle the changes fairly
“Sandy found the £250k of cash that was sitting in the business the whole time. The turnaround plan started from there.”
Managing Director
Family owned manufacturing group, 15 staff
A West Midlands manufacturer, eight weeks from a covenant breach.
Client details withheld · figures rounded
The challenge
Three years of falling EBITDA had used up the covenant headroom. The bank had moved the business into its restructuring team and wanted a credible plan before the next test date. The management accounts were late, margin by contract was unknown, and two large customers were being served at a loss without anyone naming it.
Our involvement
A 13-week cash forecast in the first five days, then a rebuild of contract-level margin from the underlying ledgers. We modelled the recovery in three versions, took one recommendation to the board, and ran the weekly cash and cost programme with the managing director. The lender pack was rebuilt around the levers we could evidence.
The outcome
Cash released through working capital and pricing, margin recovered by exiting or renegotiating eight marginally profitable contracts, and covenant compliance maintained without new equity. Reporting moved in-house, and the finance lead now runs the monthly pack without support.
£1.4m
Cash released in the first ten weeks through working capital and pricing
+4.1pt
Gross margin recovered by exiting or renegotiating eight marginally profitable contracts
2 yrs
Covenant compliance maintained without new equity
Anonymised summary of a past engagement. No client is identifiable and figures are rounded.
Business turnaround support in Birmingham and the West Midlands
Turnaround work is hands-on and local: weekly sessions with the leadership team, lender meetings in Birmingham and Coventry, and site visits across the West Midlands. The first five days focus on cash visibility, wherever the business is based.
If the next payroll is the question, call now.
Bring the last management accounts and a cash balance. I will tell you within one conversation whether the situation is recoverable and what the first five days should look like.