CDSL Group (ESpares)
CDSL Group were, in 2020, a £106m turnover "owner managed" provider of spare parts for household kitchen appliances. They were hit hard during the 2020 Covid lockdown, where staffing absence and warehouse issues gave a loss of visibility of stocks and supplier payment issues throughout 2021. The business was sold to Screwfix in 2023
The Challenge
I joined CDSL in July 2021, the same day that the company commenced a major bank restructuring process that lasted 21 months. Through 2020, Covid had lead to warehouse staffing issues that caused a catastrophic lack of stock visibility and integrity and supplier ledgers balances were all over the place. Brexit had also caused substantial purchase and selling issues in Europe. The bank had lost patience as 2 x £1m loan payments had been defaulted upon
What I Did
Working alongside Alvarez & Marsal, I pulled together new and backdated P&Ls and balance sheets and cash flow analysis, and then completely recalculated and rewrote the FY20 statutory accounts amid significant going concern uncertainties. In early 2022, the business suffered a total loss of credit insurance, so I negotiated new terms with many suppliers and moved to "line by line" daily cash flow forecasting to ensure that we had funds to get us to a future sales event. I managed stocks down from £9.95m (FY20 stats) to less than £4m, helped to remove over 200 FTES from the business, and redesigned the business to be fit for a future sale
What I Achieved
Over 12 months I got the business "sale ready". It was financially lean, the warehouse was back on track, the operations were performing well and we went to sale supported by Alvarez & Marsal in December 2022. I pulled together all the financials, much of the sales "data room", lead the sales pitch to potential PE and trade buyers and closed the sale with the team to Screwfix in March 2023.