Rebuild the operating model. Improve the margin.
When a business is under margin pressure or approaching a strategic inflection, we design and execute transformation programs that change the economics — not just the org chart. Cost, capital efficiency, pricing, and operating model, all on the table.
Most transformation programs fail not because the diagnosis is wrong — but because ownership is diffuse, the sequencing is wrong, and no one is accountable for the P&L delta. We don't hand you a report and a PowerPoint deck. A senior partner owns the number, sits in the business, and drives execution through to the point where the results are visible on the monthly accounts.
We typically engage when EBITDA margin is 3–8 points below where it should be for the sector, when the operating model hasn't been restructured since the last era of growth, or when a PE sponsor needs a credible program before the next exit. The same diagnosis also applies ahead of a sale: a business with a higher margin story sells at a higher multiple.
One execution team. Four ways into the margin.
Structural cost reset.
Not incremental budget cuts — a zero-based rethink of the cost base. We identify spans and layers, procurement inefficiency, footprint redundancy, and shared-service consolidation opportunities. The output is a hard cost reduction that doesn't bounce back in year two.
Working-capital release.
Receivables, payables, and inventory are often the largest untapped source of cash in a mid-market business. We run a structured working-capital diagnostic and implement the operational changes — not just the accounting ones — that make the improvement permanent. Released cash frequently funds the transformation itself.
Price realisation.
Most mid-market businesses leave 2–4 margin points on the table through inconsistent discounting, poor rate-card discipline, and contract-level margin blindness. We design and implement a pricing architecture that holds — with the commercial governance to prevent erosion.
Operating-model redesign.
When the business has outgrown its structure, incremental fixes don't work. We design the target operating model — role clarity, decision rights, spans of control, performance management cadence — and manage the transition, including the parts that no one wants to own: the headcount decisions and the management team changes.
Diagnostic to delivery — senior-led throughout.
Diagnostic — 4 weeks
Outside-in margin analysis, cost benchmarking, working-capital scan, operating model assessment. Output: a ranked shortlist of interventions with quantified impact and implementation cost.
Program design — 2–4 weeks
Detailed workplan, owner assignments, KPI tree, governance cadence, stakeholder communication plan. The senior partner who does the diagnostic designs the program — no hand-off.
Execution — 6–18 months
Embedded in the business, typically 2–3 days per week. Monthly sponsor/board update. Issues escalated and resolved in real time — not captured in a quarterly report and left to drift.
Measurement & hand-off
Results tracked to the P&L. When the program is embedded and management can own it, we step back — rather than manufacturing dependency. KPI governance and reporting templates handed to the internal team.
Three situations where a transformation program makes sense.
Revenue is growing but EBITDA margin is flat or declining. The cost base has followed headcount rather than revenue logic, and organic efficiency fixes haven't held.
Two businesses need to operate as one. The synergies modelled at deal close need to be extracted — with the operational disruption managed and the combined entity stabilised before the next phase.
An 18–24 month window before an exit where improving EBITDA margin by 2–4 points translates directly into a multiple-based valuation uplift — often the highest-return capital allocation decision available.
Margin under pressure? Thirty minutes to scope it.
A senior partner will scope a transformation program in 30 minutes. Confidential, no slide deck required.