Who We Work With
Distressed Companies
We support organisations navigating critical change, from stabilisation through to full transformation.
The Situation
When businesses face underperformance or disruption, clarity and speed are essential. Without decisive action, challenges compound quickly.
Turnaround and transformation situations require structured thinking, objective assessment, and disciplined execution.
What We Bring
How We Help
- Diagnose core issues quickly and objectively
- Stabilise performance and restore direction
- Lead restructuring and transformation initiatives
- Define and execute a clear path forward
Example Focus Areas
- Business restructuring and stabilisation
- Performance recovery plans
- Strategic repositioning
Our Approach
We take a focused, hands-on approach to complex situations. Our priority is to stabilise, simplify, and create a clear path forward, ensuring momentum is regained quickly.
Typical Situations
Where We Are Usually Called In
- 01Cash is tight enough that the timetable for decisions is set externally.
- 02Forecasts have been missed often enough that stakeholders no longer rely on them.
- 03Directors need an independent view of viability in order to discharge their duties.
- 04Management is absorbed in immediate pressures and cannot work on the recovery plan.
Growth And Risk Triggers
What Prompts The Conversation
Covenant breach, a funding gap or a refinancing that has become difficult.
Loss of a major customer, contract or supplier.
A lender, investor or board commissioning an independent assessment.
Creditor pressure, or supply terms tightening.
Leadership Questions
What Leaders Are Asking
- 01How many weeks of cash do we actually have?
- 02Which part of this business is viable, and on what evidence?
- 03What do we tell our lenders, and when?
- 04What decisions must be made this month rather than this quarter?
Relevant Services
Where We Typically Help
- Turnaround & Transformation
The engagement itself: stabilisation, viability assessment and recovery planning.
- Operations & Efficiency
Where recovery depends on sustained operational and margin improvement.
- Management Consulting
Restoring the reporting and decision discipline a recovery requires.
How We Adapt
How The Engagement Is Shaped
- 01
Cash first, always
Work begins with the short-term cash position, because it determines what is possible and how long there is to decide.
- 02
Pace set by the position
Reporting cadence and decision points are set by the cash position rather than by a standard project plan.
- 03
Candour with stakeholders
Lenders and investors are given one consistent account of the position. Forecasts that prove reliable are what rebuild confidence.
- 04
Alongside management
We add capacity and independence rather than displacing a team whose knowledge of the business the recovery depends on.
Questions
Questions We Are Asked
Is it too late to bring someone in?
- Rarely, though the options available narrow as cash tightens. Even where the position is severe, an accurate view of cash and viability improves the decisions still to be made.
Will involving advisers alarm our lenders?
- Usually the opposite. Lenders generally respond to an independent assessment and reliable forecasting as evidence that the position is being managed, and we support how and when that is communicated.
Do you handle formal insolvency processes?
- No. We are not insolvency practitioners. Where a formal process may be needed we say so early and work alongside the appropriate legal and insolvency specialists.
How quickly can an engagement begin?
- In these situations we prioritise starting quickly, typically with a short initial assessment of cash and viability before any broader scope is agreed.
Where To Next
Related Audiences And Perspectives
- Mid-Market Companies
Navigate mid-market complexity with senior support across strategy, operations, leadership and transformation, focused on practical decisions and delivery.
- Corporate Leadership Teams
Independent senior counsel for executive teams making consequential choices about strategy, transformation, operating models and execution.
- Insights
Timely perspectives and expert analysis for leaders navigating complexity, growth, transformation and strategic decision-making.
- Turnaround & Transformation
Stabilise performance, make difficult trade-offs and deliver a credible turnaround or transformation plan with senior, hands-on advisory support.
- Operations & Efficiency
Improve operational performance through clearer operating models, cost discipline and better decisions about capacity, delivery and accountability.
- Management Consulting
Work with senior management consultants to address complex organisational decisions, improve performance and turn leadership priorities into action.
- The Management Load Audit for Scaling Businesses
Growth adds necessary complexity, but it also creates management work that no longer adds value. A 30-day audit can show leaders where coordination is consuming capacity and what to redesign first.
- The Cash Conversion Review for Growing Businesses
Revenue can rise while cash falls. This five-clock review helps leadership teams locate the commercial and operational delays trapping cash, assign ownership and improve conversion without damaging customers or suppliers.
Time-critical situation?
A short confidential call will establish the position and whether an immediate assessment is warranted.
Request a confidential discussionNeed to regain control?
We bring clarity and structure to complex, high-pressure situations.
Work With Us