Financial Controller Analyst
Gems Education
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :13 years, 1 أشهر
Based in Dubai in the corporate finance function and reporting to VP - corporate finance and CFO for GEMS MENASA.
Financial Planning & Analysis
• I own the long-range business planning & forecasting of Gems Education. This financial model is the base for all internal management decision making & a quick walk through for external vendors doing diligence on the business and it’s future potential.
• The financial model is build bottom up with business KPI’s. I regularly present dashboards in the model for Actual performance vs budget’s/Forecast’s and contextualize future impacts on business.
• Preparation and presentation of business budget to the board. Key responsibilities include setting budget targets with operations, preparation of key risks and mitigants for the budget and ensure regular monitoring in place to ensure budget targets are met.
• Identifying cost saving and cost optimization avenues across the business. Have these signed off and communicated to the senior management and future tracking by PMO. Initiatives worth USD 25 mn identified over FY 17 & 18 to achieve business budget.
• Financial representative for the CRM & Enrolments team on building new ways to track customer data. The way we input customer related data into the systems impacts future business planning & forecasting.
• Project managing the approval mechanism for IC meetings. Responsibilities includes preparation of Investment notes, feasibility and due diligence analysis, and Investment return threshold analysis. Have to work extensively with operations and legal teams to create a business case for the IC
Corporate Finance
• Cash flow management: Project managing the funding requirements for Budgeted CAPEX, Business Acquisitions & other general-purpose corporate requirements. The task also involves ensuring lending bank covenants are not in breach and business has sufficient headroom at all times.
• Project managing the financial modelling and analysis of USD 1.25 syndicated borrowing. This transaction was to refinance our existing portfolio of debt and fund future expansions. Responsibilities also included negotiating CTA terms, transaction structuring, Bank presentations, Credit analyst meetings and Q&A sessions on the business model and business strategy. This transaction has been awarded as the best transaction in MENA in 2018.
• Project managing the Pre-IPO private placements. The transactions size was c. USD 125 mn. Responsibilities include preparation of sell side equity decks, setting up due diligence dataroom, presentation of business forecasts, handling due diligence queries from buyer’s appointed consultants.
• Project managing the IPO readiness activities in corporate finance. Responsibilities include building IPO financial model from scratch, long form report (LFR), financial policies and procedures report (FPPP), Monthly Working capital model, management presentations and analyst review packs. Gems is aiming for a premium listing at the LSE. Estimated size of the valuation expected to be c. USD 5 bn.
• A big part of my role is to work with External consultants ( Reporting Accountant, Market Sizing, Legal due diligence) and analysts from IPO JGC’s on; preparation of Long Form Report, Vendor due diligence packs, Management presentations and teasers for equity sale process, analyst shadow models & presentations.
• Project managing the M&A transactions. As part of the IPO restructuring most of the M&A, transactions were existing assets of the ultimate parent shareholder of GEMS. These are the services business, an offshoot of the GEMS value chain, but create a great equity story for the incoming Investors.
Selected transactions
• Threads - USD 30 mn (School Uniforms)
• ZAKS - USD 50 mn (School Uniforms)
• Slices - USD 10 mn (School Catering)
• Working on annual Budgets, KPI’s and Forecasts for assigned business’s; this include India business as a whole, UK F&B business, Turkey F&B Business, UAE Fashion event Business, UAE F&B and Hotel JV business and real estate business.
• New M&A opportunities - Business plan and valuation preparation, presentation to the Board including commercial and operational internal Due Diligence. Identifying business synergies between home concept and Target Company and mapping areas for potential value enhancements.
• Preparation of Financial Models from scratch encompassing Financial and operational assumptions, IRR and return models, Valuations model with approaches and comparable industry transactions.
• As part of the group capital-restructuring process, cashed out owners investment in a hotel biz. by infusing debt funds which are cheaper
• Turkey Business Vertical - Successfully exited the F&B business in Turkey, Closely monitoring retail business in Turkey against KPI’s. Turkey Biz. Portfolio includes well-known brands including Hard Rock Café, Carlucci’s, and Aldo etc.
• UK Business- Significantly large investment - Involved in MBO of previous shareholders, complete business restructuring of the business including feasibility and entry into US markets.
• India Business - Review the business performance and funding requirement as well as new M&A opportunities of India business on regular basis
• Sell side deals closed - 3, Buy Side deals analyzed - 5 (2 went to DD stage)
• Sector exposure: Retail, F&B, Healthcare, Entertainment, E-commerce and Hotels
Sell Side Transactions
• I-care clinic : USD 40 mn (Healthcare)
• Turkey Business: USD 125 mn (F&B and Retail)
• UAE based Restaurant : USD 12 mn ( F&B) Buy side Transactions (none closed)
• Hypermarket Business India - USD 200 mn ( FMCG)
• QSR chain in UAE - USD 70 mn (F&B)
• QSR chain in UAE - USD 225 mn (F&B)
• Events business UAE - USD 12 mn ( Fashion)
Business Strategy and Performance Management office (PMO)
• By weekly reporting to CEO/CFO/CSO/CMO and PMO on the performance of key operational parameters ranging from Plant operations, sales and procurement monitoring and financial control updates.
• Developing a comprehensive group wide reporting patterns including daily & weekly dashboards and monthly & quarterly business analytics reports for group manufacturing entities
• Review and track all efficiency improvement projects and suggest improvements.
• Business restructuring of Non - Profitable / Non - Core businesses of the Group.
• Deft in building business plans and Budget targets for all group entities at HO level in consultation with all Business heads.
• Monthly tracking of targets and suggesting corrective action
• Tracking and reporting deviations from agreed KPI’s.
• working capital management, sales analysis, product profitability & pricing, customer profitability & pricing and inventory analysis
• Analysing feasibility of new projects; IRR/ NPV tracking, Payback period tracking.
• Participated in Offsite retreat of the group in January 2015 as youngest member of the strategy team.
Credit control, Financing and Forex management
• Monthly tracking of credit control mechanism; identifying gaps in the process, breaches by sales team and corrective action required
• Implementation of Credit Insurance proposal; IT and operational support and Periodic tracking.
• Ensuring credit exposure is optimized and under control
• Part of committee that gives regular feedback and updates to the board on hedging strategies.
• Deft in building Hedging strategies, derivative products and cash management models.
• Analysing and arranging bank financing for group companies.
• Optimizing and controlling interest costs.
Financial reporting
• Preparation of IFRS compliant financials for the group
• Hands on experience on complex accounting issues; hyperinflationary accounting, Foreign exchange fluctuations etc.
• Ensuring new standards are implemented and Audit queries are resolved
• Ensuring Audit tracking issues are closed at year end and management letter signed.
Business Valuation and Investor Relations
• Developing Business Valuations models to estimate Enterprise Value and enable the management to negotiate the deal with the prospective buyer.
• Involved in closing the deal in selling 2 core business and 1 Non - Core business.
• Building valuation models for Equity Analyst and addressing their queries.
• Value research and peer benchmarking for the owners of the business.
• Successfully coordinated to get two equity research reports out in a short span of 2 months.
Specialization in IFRS
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