We were engaged by an owner-managed company initially to help with their growth strategy. This later developed into the owners’ exit strategy.
On engagement, the company had a turnover of circa £3m, with a reasonable gross margin and net profit. We used our proven diagnostic process (BPD) to establish the base level for the business and identify the areas that needed improvement for the business to grow.
The BPD report and action list provided the road map for improving the business which the owners implemented with our help.
Consequently, the business grew to circa £10.5m turnover with an increased gross margin and significantly improved net profit.
The exit strategy was developed and implemented after the business owners decided that it was time to retire from the industry that they had been involved in all their working lives.
This involved improving the business even further and preparing it for sale, so we re-ran the BPD again and entered into improvement process that it revealed..
The target was for disposal within five years, however the sale was completed six months early.
Our role was to provide help, support, guidance and mentoring to the board of directors on an ongoing basis together with targeted executive assistance with specific projects as part of the road map to growth and exit.
As part of the sale, we agreed continued to provide assistance to the new owners, thus ensuring a smooth handover until the new management team were fully embedded.
In its simplistic form, the BPD seeks to identify how much of the business is sustainable without the Executive being there. The Executive could be the owner, the partners or proprietors or even the whole board of directors.