Board-Level Finance Director, CFO & NED Services In Reading

Which Board-Level Roles Suit Reading Businesses?

The right starting point depends on what is holding the business back. In Reading, three situations are typical.

• Busy but not making money. Strong order books and weak margins point to a Part-Time Finance Director for reporting and forecasting, and an Operations Director where delivery and accountability need tightening.
• Growing faster than the structure behind it. Funding, planning and the board's time call for a Part-Time CFO, or a Non-Executive Director when ownership or the board is changing.
• Numbers that arrive late. If you cannot trust the monthly figures, start with a Management Accountant.

If the finance director has left or a transaction is coming, an Interim Finance Director or Interim CFO can start quickly. Not sure which model fits? Read Fractional vs Part-Time vs Interim CFO.

How Have We Helped Reading Businesses?

A Reading engineering business that more than doubled its sales and multiplied its profit

A Reading engineering business with 50 staff was consistently busy but struggling to make money. Cash was tight, and its new bank relationship manager suggested the directors talk to Secantor.

A Secantor Finance Director joined the team for one day a month. Together they built a five year plan, restructured the profit centres around personal accountability, introduced monthly reporting and structured board meetings, and shifted the focus from sales volume to the gross margin on every sale. As the founder prepared to retire, the same support extended to mentoring the executive directors through the transfer of ownership.

Sales have grown from £3.1m to £6.75m and net profit from £50,000 to £850,000. Seventeen years on, Secantor still works with the business as Finance Director and Non-Executive Director. In the words of the chairman: “Secantor has transformed a struggling company, but full of good people, into a very, very profitable company full of very, very motivated, happy, well-rewarded people and the future looks extremely bright.” Read the full case study.

A £12m commercial property business where growth had masked a profit problem

A Reading commercial property business had grown to £12m turnover, but the push for sales had eroded project margins without anyone noticing. After a change in senior leadership, the owners found themselves back in the business just as their Finance Director resigned.

Secantor introduced a fractional Finance Director, four days a month, to provide immediate senior leadership. The first priority was understanding where the business makes money and where it does not, through a review of gross margin on every project, with project managers made accountable for delivering the margins set when work was quoted. Alongside that, the Finance Director is supporting cost reductions and a deliberate move away from low margin work, so the owners can build a smaller, more profitable business that can eventually run without them.

The assignment is under way, and the aim is a business ready for succession. It is a reminder that revenue growth and business success are not the same thing.