Causes of crises are often multi-faceted: from business models, products or services that are no longer in demand on the market, or efficiency and cost problems in various areas along the value chain, to liquidity problems. It is always important to maneuver out of the situation quickly, but without making hasty decisions that damage the company in the long run. Companies are often unable to resolve these special situations or crises on their own. In many cases, several attempts at restructuring due to internal movements have already failed. Affected companies need the support of experts from a restructuring consultancy to maneuver their way out of the crisis together.
Our approach
Situation
In the context of a turnaround or restructuring, necessary steps are defined and implemented to stem the company’s losses, increase profitability, and achieve sustainable growth. As soon as the company is generating earnings again, it is sustainably realigned so that it does not find itself in a comparable situation in the future, but instead actively adapts to changes and can identify distress at an early stage.
Target
Depending on the scope and phase of a crisis, the goals of a restructuring as well as the necessary speed of implementation vary. According to the going-concern principle, the overriding goal is to secure the liquidity and thus the continued existence of our client companies. In concrete terms, the aim is to achieve an increase in profitability and a strategic repositioning in the competition and the relevant markets. To increase the volume of new orders, we also strive to increase the efficiency of the existing product portfolio and optimize the sales and service organization.
Solution
Essentially, our restructuring concepts focus on three levers of value creation:
1. Operational restructuring: Improvement of the earnings situation through cost reduction and productivity enhancement measures
2. Reorganization: Development of an efficient personnel, organizational and operational structure
3. Financial restructuring: Optimization of cash flow, financial planning and working capital
To be able to make statements about the company’s situation based on these three levers, the first step is an analysis of the current situation to find out to what extent the business model needs to be adapted in order to generate sustainable growth. From this we can derive the main objectives, type and scale, potential difficulties, and speed of the change process. We then define the strategic program, which consists of validated potentials, a structured master plan and roadmap, and quick wins. Our modern restructuring concept optimizes the operational business through cost-cutting measures and improves the financial situation by cleaning up the balance sheet. The adjustment of the balance sheet is particularly relevant for M&A transactions due to the increase in value, e.g., through the dissolution of hidden reserves, as the gap between the buyer’s and seller’s purchase price expectations can thus be closed to some extent.
By creating and implementing a wide range of measures along the entire value chain, we stop the losses and bring our clients back into the profit zone or increase the value of the company.
Result
Through our many years of experience in restructuring, we provide our clients with a realistic turnaround concept in a timely manner to restructure the company for maximum value and asset preservation. We work together with our clients to ensure that the right decisions are made, and measures are implemented in a targeted manner.
In the past, our clients have been able to successfully restructure their companies through the planning and implementation of our individually created advisory concepts, achieving the following medium- and long-term goals, among others. These included restoring competitiveness and profitability and thus securing liquidity, consolidating, and expanding the market position in core markets as a basis for healthy and sustainable growth, and establishing company-wide key performance indicator systems and controlling units to monitor and ensure the success of the restructuring.
Our core competencies
Distressed M&A
We offer specialized consulting services for companies and investors that find themselves in a difficult earnings situation or liquidity crisis. ensign advisory initiates the necessary operational support at high speed in order to be able to optimally accompany a transaction/restructuring.
Introduction of Change Management
In the long term, our client organizations should be able to independently master the challenges of ongoing change. We help our clients to establish the necessary corporate structures and culture.
Conception of Mission and Vision Statements
In changing corporate situations, the development and implementation of new strategies can be a great challenge, which we gladly face together with our clients. A redefinition of vision and mission leads to clear target images and helps our client organizations to emerge strengthened from the transformation.
Extensive M&A Transaction Experience
ensign's consultants have extensive experience in the M&A transaction market. One of the best-known transactions in the packaging technology sector in 2017 was the acquisition of Rovema by Haniel, which was also co-managed by our consultants.
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