Engaged by a BC business owner looking to acquire a regional distributor. We reviewed the target's financials, normalized earnings, tested the quality of receivables and inventory, and identified working capital requirements and risks the seller's numbers didn't show. The analysis supported a revised purchase price and financing terms the buyer could comfortably carry.
Acquisition Due Diligence Project (Distribution Co)
Cash-Flow Analysis for Valuation (Publishing Co)
Engaged by a New York City publisher to prepare a defensible cash-flow basis for a business valuation. We normalized historical earnings, separated one-time and owner-related items from true operating results, analyzed the timing of royalties, advances and receivables, and built forward-looking projections that would stand up to scrutiny from buyers, brokers and advisors.
Budgeting & Forecasting Project (Winery)
An Niagra winery with strong sales but unpredictable results needed a clearer financial picture. Because a winery's cash is tied up in inventory for years before it's sold, we built a budget and forecast model that tracked vintage costs through to sale, flagged seasonal cash pressure points, and showed profitability by channel (wine shop, wholesale, and club). In addition, given the nature of often changing regulatory issues, the forecasting had to be highly flexible and adaptable. Ownership now plans production and spending against real numbers instead of instinct.
Automated Cash-Flow Forecast Project (Film Production Co)
A small film production company operating between British Columbia and Los Angeles was managing cash production by production, with little visibility into the overlap between projects. We built an automated forecast that pulled from production budgets and accounting data, captured the timing of tax credit receivables, cross-border payroll and currency exposure, and rolled everything into a single company-wide view. Management can now see cash shortfalls 13 weeks ahead and plan bridge financing before it's urgent.
Profit Recovery Project (Construction Co)
A BC construction company saw profits fall significantly while sales held flat. Our analysis traced the decline to a new automated billing system: change orders, extras and time-and-materials work were being paid, but some of the related invoicing had not been entered and billed, thereby impacting margins negatively. Somehow their accounting department over-looked this. We quantified the missed billings and recovered what could still be invoiced. Margins returned to 45% almost immediately.
Cash-Flow Management & Optimization Project (Professional Services Co)
An Ontario contract-based professional services firm was profitable on paper but constantly short of cash, largely because of the gap between delivering work, billing for it, getting paid and paying suppliers/vendors. We built a rolling, automated 13-week cash-flow forecast using AI and Python, restructured billing milestones in new contracts, tightened collections and aligned payables with the timing of client receipts. Within 3 months, DSO dropped by 4.5 days and the firm eliminated its reliance on its operating line.
Product Line Profitability Project (Manufacturer)
An Alberta manufacturer knew its overall margins were slipping but not where. Using activity-based costing, we measured the true cost of each product line, including setup time, scrap and overhead that had previously been spread evenly. Several high-volume products turned out to be losing money. We repriced some, reworked production runs on others, and discontinued the rest, improving gross margin by 40% within 8 months.
Profit Improvement & Service Level Improvement Project (Distribution Co)
Although profitable, the revenues and profits of this Toronto, Ontario distributor were sporadic and inconsistent. We determined that there were human resource issues in terms of insufficient and poor selection in staffing, poor management training and that the cost/benefit was clearly in favor of additional headcount. Significant accounting mistakes, lost sales opportunities, increasing mis-picks & shortages, and rapidly increasing dated AR in credit card sales were the major results of insufficient staffing, aside from dramatic headcount turnover which had perpetuated these problems. In addition, purchasing & receiving issues in respect to incoming overages and shortages had a devastating impact on inventory, and a re-evaluation of inventory processes and procedures had to be re-developed and staff retrained to effectively use the technology at their disposal.
Despite increased salary costs, profitability increased by 18% year over year for the final two months of the project, primarily due to revenue increases as a result of improved service to the clients, which was a result of improved moral among the employee's.
Profitable Sales Growth Project (Distribution Co)
We assisted a Garden City, UK distributor in growing their sales while maintaining control of their expenses. We developed a target list of customers and regions, isolated the product lines that were most marketable and "profitable", created pro-forma's to assess the potential profitability, and then developed and implemented a plan of action. In essence, re-educated and refocused the clients and the sales team. Although our rates were reduced to accommodate this client, it was an exciting project and well worth the effort, as the clients sales have grown by 20% over the past 9 months, and their profits by 22%.
