PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
General Management Contractor – A&A Welch group of companies March 2014 to December 2014
- An Icehouse customer.
- This is a case of an elderly owner without an exit strategy or a succession plan for an asset rich, cash poor company with a good business plan and good potential but limited ability to apply it.
- Historically the business had been struggling do the same thing that they have always done during a changing market.
- www.businessexit.co.nz recommended that they get a GM to implement the plan which is where I got involved.
- An interesting culture where the customer is an inconvenience and should be happy with what they get as we know best.
- At the age of 73 after a heart operation, the owner has discovered a new lease on life and that the cost of having a GM, in this dairy pay-out climate, outweighs the benefit.
- Brought in on a long term basis to facilitate a start-up, increase customer base, diversify product offering, increase productivity and profitability with a storage and drying company A&A Welch Ltd t/a Tuakau Grain, a food company Corn Products Limited and a dairy feed company Milkwel Dairy Feeds Limited.
- In a climate where farmer’s incomes have halved and the dairy industry is in turmoil, in 6 months I have
- Successfully launched a calf meal brand into the calf rearing market which services the dairy, cattle, and goat industries. This created a double margin for this product.
- Increased their direct to farm customer base by 130%.
- Implemented a health and safety policy across the group.
- With good luck rather than foresight, by diversifying the offering of Milkwel into the calf meal and toll manufacturing business, it insulated the company from the dairy pay-out woes in the industry at present.
- Brought on a toll manufacturing customer which increased bagged production by 105% and again diluted the influence of the dairy pay-out.
- Increased revenues by 18% in 6 months.
- Increased gross margin by 5.2%
- Become the nutritional advisor to the business and given talks about dairy feeds and minerals to Dairy NZ Farm discussion groups.
General Manager -Cupolex Building Systems Limited / Cupolex Australasia Limited. November 2010 -April 2013
- Cupolex owned the NZ and Australasian manufacturing and distribution rights to an innovative concrete foundation system.
- Took over non performing business units in 2010, changed the businesses route to market and restructured staff.
- Cupolex Australasia had sales of less than $50K per annum in 2010.
- Sourced and signed distributor in Australia for NSW, VIC, QLD and ACT by month five increasing revenues to in excess of $2M p.a by April 2013
- Revenues for NZ up 135% by April 2013 despite a recession in the building industry through this period, and the group is now profitable by a sizeable amount.
- Presentations to local body councils, group housing companies, Master and Certified Builders meetings, Structural Engineers, Architects, Drainage Engineers.
- The six directors decided to scale back the NZ business and profit take against my advice and I resigned.
- Even with negative growth since I resigned I have remained in touch with the company. I recently introduced a potential buyer to the business which has now sold for a multiple of 7 x shareholder’s initial investment which they are very happy with. This was based upon the success of the Australian distribution network that I set up which made the business profitable. Contract Project Manager -Practec Limited June 2010 – October 2010
- Took over the partially completed 6 storey interior fit out of Goodman Fielder building in Nelson St, Auckland.
- Included HVAC, Electrical, Flooring, Partitions, Paint, Security, Conference technology, Commercial Kitchens, Data.
- Brought project back on track and delivered on time and within budget.
General Manager -Zealandia Horticulture Limited September 2008 to May 2010
- For 30 years this business revolved around the owner with minimal systems and management structure. My task was to create systems and infrastructure to enable the entity to function as a business without the owner.
- Responsibilities included production, plant health, transport logistics, operations and manufacturing, HR, H&S, customer services, back office admin, stock control and production planning, maintenance of mechanised production lines, profit responsibility of $9M t/o and 99 employees during peak season.
- Introduced and documented Health & Safety and HR systems to the business.
- Managed a new fleet of eight DAF trucks delivering north-island wide twice weekly.
- Designed architecture for a SQL Server database to control transport logistics of product north-island wide twice weekly using our own fleet and external cartage contractors when required.
- Customers included Foodstuffs, Progressive, The Warehouse, Mitre 10 group, Kings, Palmers and multiple independents.
- Introduced electric picking carts in place of forklifts and centralised inventory management system using bar code scanners for stock control movements and order picking.
- Improved productivity and profitability through technology requiring less FTE during peak periods.
- Achieved set goals and handed business back to owner with two operations managers as my replacement.
Contract Project Manager -Practec Limited July 2008 to September 2010
- Responsible for the Hilton Hotel Room Refurbishment -Auckland Viaduct .
- Completed project on time and within budget with a 4 week refurbishment cycle per floor.
Fairview Metal Industries Group – GM Gulf Windows & Doors Limited December 05 to June 08
- Business rescue of an inherited non core business based in Warkworth.
- Day to day operations, manufacturing, service and delivery of aluminium windows and doors to the construction industry.
- 2007 Window Association NZ Category Winner -Commercial Projects over $100K The Glasshouse Brick Bay Winery.
- 2007 Window Association NZ Supreme Award Winner -The Glasshouse Brick Bay Winery.
- Instigated, negotiated and signed preferred supplier agreement with Bunnings nationwide for Elite and Fairview Aluminium fabricators.
- Created and fostered relationships between group builders, architects and construction companies.
- Took out the main competitor in the market by merging their business with Gulf Windows
Fairview Metal Industries Group -GM Fabtech Limited July 04 to November 05
- Hired as a contract Business Analyst to assess manufacturing processes, profitability and delivery in full on time in specification (IFOTIS).
- GM resigned as a result and I took over as General Manager.
- Reached 90% target IFOTIS milestone within 90 days of takeover. Prior peak was 60% IFOTIS.
- Revenue growth of 15% in year 1 due to my new product lines and production initiatives.
Builder for Hallmark Builders Limited June 03 – July 04
- Returned from the UK and worked as a builder in charge of one of three executive builds in St Heliers from set out to handover.
Henry Pluge Group PLC November 2002 – May 2003 (U.K)
- An entrepreneurial group of companies whose main focus was to buy and sell distressed assets from the finance industry.
- Undertake due diligence process re the purchase of distressed assets/companies
- Investigate viability of asset disposal versus running the business unit or negotiated sale as a going concern.
- Negotiated the speculative purchase and disposal of £5M of cranes in the UK and the USA gross profit of £1.15M from the Baldwins Cranes PLC Liquidation. This involved negotiations between parties in Texas, Amsterdam, Belgium, France and the UK.
- Negotiated the acquisition and set up of an Earth Satellite Antenna Business physically located in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka but run remotely from London.
- Created and implemented business plan and cash flows for operation of the above including negotiations between Cable and Wireless for outgoing and Singtel and Sri Lanka Telecom for landing calls.
BNP Paribas Lease Group End of Contracts Manager March 2001 – October 2002 (U.K)
BNP Paribas is one of the world’s largest banking organisations with circa 7000 employees. The Lease Group arm of BNP is an umbrella for seven finance houses specialising in different sectors. These sectors included fork lift trucks, printing machines, IT equipment, agriculture machinery, truck & trailers, construction, office equipment and local government infrastructure.
I was responsible for the day to day running of the following business units.
- Third Party Payout. Back office logistics of maintenance payments to third party contractors throughout the life of the finance agreement. Circa £2M payout per month to 150 suppliers processing in excess of 2500 invoices per month.
- Used Kit Direct. Sales circa £7M per annum of end of contract and distressed assets. Average stock holding £750K, average sale price £15K, 70% of which was on-sold with finance from one of the credit arms. Maximising profitability from F&I on refinance arrangements including credit approval up to £20K.
- Ex Industrial. Negotiations with Utility companies for extension agreement terms for utility rentals. I.e. Residual Value positions on in ground local council water reticulation assets and hot water systems in council housing.
- End of Contracts. Facilitating the end of contract processes for the return of up to 300 vehicles a month either to UKD for disposal or to third party Residual Value partners. Collecting residual values from partners on a monthly basis. Circa £2M per month collected. Average residual value £12K. Number of Residual value partners twelve.
Wellington Collections and Pacific Tenders Limited June 97 – January 2001
Wellington Collections was a collections agency I started at the request of some of my customers. This morphed into assisting them with the disposal of their assets via Pacific Tenders Limited.
Pacific Tenders Ltd primarily specialised in disposal of assets for finance companies and large Corporates. This was generally via an international tender process for a variety of assets and going concerns including aircraft, cranes, heavy transport, earth moving machinery, roading and forestry equipment, amongst others.
During this period I was an active angel investor in the following entities which revolved around direct sales teams and consulting.
Additional arms of the business included:
- New Era Marketing Limited -Sourcing products and materials from China in order to assist NZ manufacturers and importers.
- Energy Consulting Company– Electricity Retailing on behalf of Trust Power.
- e-Gas 2000 Ltd -Gas Retailing.
- Direct Mail Express -Direct Mail Marketing Events.
Pacific Tenders NZ Ltd – Managing Director
Accountabilities
- Secure business for the company by marketing services to the Finance Industry, Receivers and Liquidators, large Corporates.
- Ensure profitability of business in accordance with projected Cashflows.
- Ensure that maximum value for assets disposed is achieved and that an appropriate audit trail is available for use by the client for recovery purposes.
Achievements
- Cityjet Liquidation. Ran an international tender process for the disposal of four Embraer Bandeirante Aircraft and spare parts inventory. Tender process ended with twenty-one bids from nine different countries four bids of which exceeded the clients expectations.
- Hamelex Industries Liquidation. Sold Warkworth branch as a going concern achieving 100% of stock at book value and a value for goodwill of the business. Twelve employees were able to retain their jobs as a result. Catalogued for marketing purposes assets of the Auckland & Rotorua branches of Hamelex.
- Sold the IP of Hamelex for in excess of the finance companies exposure.
Pacific Tenders has sold in excess of NZD$5 million of assets over its period of operation prior to the sale of its service contracts to a third party.