Management Consultant
Management Consultants
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :40 years, 5 أشهر
Offering consultancy and advice on matters relating to
- Business Performance Management . Enabling businesses to grow revenues, improve margins and reposition quickly .
- Cash & Capital management - A 13 week Cash Flow tool that builds a short term view of how cash flows through the business and signals fast emerging problems together with a tightly managed Balance Sheet (Right sizing of Balance Sheet ) which often liberates more cash, preserves options and drives value for shareholders - a strategy, which, more often, outweighs the benefits of cost cutting .
- Corporate Turnaround with an emphasis on providing Profit / Performance acceleration, Preemptive turnaround, Management Productivity improvement .
- M & A , including Due Diligence .
From identifying target companies to value acceleration to synergy realisation in case of acquisition .
-Enterprise Risk Management .
- Project Feasibility .
- IFRS ( International Financial Reporting Standards ) .
Apart from the specific areas listed above, in general, organisations are helped to solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance .
In respect of all the above matters, the basic exercise and spadework is carried out by a team of professionals under my direction and supervision . In general, my role involves :
- Managing Projects and Programmes.
- Presenting findings and recommendations to clients.
-Ensuring that the client receives the necessary assistance to implement the recommendations / solutions .
-Leading and managing those within the team .
-Liaising with the client to keep them informed of progress and to make relevant decisions.
Group C.F.O. - reporting to the Chairman of the Suhail Bahwan Automotive Group.
Overall in-charge of the Finance & Accounts of the Group consisting of eight companies spread over Oman, U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya with Muscat as its headquarters.
Team size of Finance & Accounts - 90 persons.
Group Turnover exceeds US dollar one billion.
(Group is in Automotive business and is the leading distributor of Nissan, Renault, Infinity, BMW, Mini and Rolls Royce .It also has businesses of car leasing and renting as well as distribution of construction and earth moving equipment. The flagship company of the Group is Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC ) .
Noteworthy Contributions:
☞ By a strategic approach of strengthening the Exports team by adding key personnel for business development & growth as well as emphasising on high volumes and comparatively lower margins as compared to local sales, the export business has grown five fold and contributed heavily to the overall growth of this Group from US $600 mln to over US $ one billion in 4 years.
☞ Restructured the car rental and leasing businesses of the Group both operationally and financially which helped the Group realise the true value for which these businesses were set-up. These businesses were spread over Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE and were stagnant . Restructuring helped these businesses to triple in a year and also helped tie up bank financing of US $ 70 mln per year to aid their growth.
☞ Introduced the "cash flow system of accounting" as per IAS 39 which protected the group from violent fluctuations in Profit and Loss Account as well as ensured the hedged gross margin.
☞ Optimised working capital for the Group - was able to release around US $ 100 mln by good control over stockholding ( maintaining stocks for 1.5 months as against three months), ensuring collection of receivables on time with regular follow-up and ensuring that invoicing and delivery were done when only all the materials were available for a particular customer as well as improving credit terms with Principals .
☞ Spearheaded the Cost Reduction Task Force of the Group in 2009 and 2010, during the period of liquidity crisis, which brought an overall cost reduction to the tune of OMR 4 mln (Equivalent to US$ 10.4 mln) per year, a contribution of 50% to the bottom-line.
☞ Succeeded in raising long term bank finance (3 to 5 yrs) at a rate below 4% ( a saving of at least 2% ) against the Long Term receivables portfolio of around US$ 120 mln to ensure constant liquidity for the Company thereby enabling the company to provide further financing to new customers.
☞ Enhanced working capital limits from USD 325 mln in 2008 to USD 780 mln with various major banks in the GCC to ensure sufficient limits for increased business at competitive rates - the limits were spread over seventeen banks.
☞ Finalised the annual accounts within one month of the year end against four months taken earlier - have set this as a trend.
☞ Pivotal role in introducing a full fledged system of MIS (division wise ) with P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement which was made available by the 5th of the month as compared to the 3rd week of the month with only the P&L being provided .
☞ Have maintained strong relationships with banks at the highest level, covering major banks in Oman, Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This relationship has helped in very fine pricing and huge and continuous credit for the Group during its growth phase.
☞ Evaluated and approved pricing for products and on this basis negotiated with Principals for lower pricing and better credit terms, thereby ensuring a much better bottom-line and cash flow for the Group.
☞ Instrumental in assuring liquidity and profits in 2009 by a mixture of cost cutting, reducing inventory build-up, negotiating better credit terms from Principals and running a "Profit management Program " .
As Head - Corporate Affairs in the holding company , this role is equivalent to Group Finance Director .
Team size - 15 professionals .
(Turnover in excess of US dollar 6 Billion)
Mahindra & Mahindra Group is an Indian conglomerate listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange & National Stock Exchange having major
interests in Automotive, Farm Equipment, Auto Components, IT, Infrastructure Development and Trade & Financial Services . There are around fifty companies spanning all these businesses spread over USA, Europe, China, South Africa & Middle East, apart from India.
As Head-Corporate Affairs, I was responsible for the financial management of all the businesses of the Group which also included facing off to analysts and Investor Relations . The financial management involved six major business divisions with a mandate to turn around the performance of the Group and improve its Shareholder Value .The turnover of the Group at that time was US $ 1.5 billion.
Noteworthy Contributions :
☞ Laying down the overall goals, strategies and targets for the Group, as well as individual companies and sectors of the Group.
☞Focus not only on profits but on returns like ROI and RONA as well as Cash Flow. Key message - "Cash is king."
☞ Set up a standard MIS format, similar to international conglomerates, to ensure all information is captured and data renders itself to analysis.
☞ Review of MIS on the basis of which businesses had to take corrective action.
☞ Led the Planning and Budgeting exercise for the Group as a whole which focussed on increasing productivity, reducing costs to reach targeted returns and Cash Flow .
☞ Regularly carried out business reviews of various sectors and group companies along with the other members of the Senior Management Team of the Corporate Centre based on which the sector/group companies had to take corrective actions .
☞ Carried out divestitures , acquisitions & restructuring arising out of strategic review .
☞ Successfully carried out an acquisition of a software company in San Jose, USA, strong on the supply chain module of SAP, to strengthen the local IT consulting company .
☞ Strategic support on IPO issues of Group.
.☞ Appointed as a member of The Board of Directors of Siro Plast Limited (now Mahindra Composites), a public limited company, part of the Group.
☞ Executed two major divestitures of group companies / businesses.
☞Successfully turned around the performance of the Group in 4 years with a tenfold increase in Shareholder value and a fourfold increase in turnover to US $ 6 billion .
☞ Nominated to a project of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, to consider modification of Indian Accounting Standards .
From March 05 to Oct. 08 -
☞ Deputed as the first CFO of Mahindra Renault Ltd., a JV and greenfield venture, between Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Renault sas of France for the production and sale of passenger cars.
• Negotiated ECB of US$ 150 mln at an average cost of 7.5 %, ( savings of 2% ) compared to the market rate .
•Negotiated INR term loan equivalent of US $75 mln at fixed rate of 8.25%.- a saving of 1.75 % compared to market.
• Bagged approval from the Ministry of Industry for Project Import status.
☞ Deputed, from Aug. 06, as CFO of three companies, viz., Mahindra Intertrade Ltd. (MIL), Mahindra Steel Service Centre Ltd. (MSSCL) and Mahindra Middle East Electrical Steel Service Centre FZC - Sharjah (MMESS) having a total turnover of Rs. 10 bln.
☞ Financed the blanking line facility at Nasik which involved a funding of Rs. 500 Million and the lamination facility at Vadodara costing Rs. 300 Million with a mix of foreign loans and rupee term loans at fine rates along with internal accruals.
☞ Revised the FOREX policy to address situations where rupee is appreciating , thereby making it more practical & flexible.
☞ MIS released by the 5th of the month - from the earlier 10th.
Reported to the Managing Director
☞ Jul '97 - Oct '01: Ciba Specialty Chemicals (India) Limited, Mumbai, as General Manager - Finance. This is a subsidiary of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., a US dollar 5 billion multinational, manufacturing and dealing in a wide range of specialty chemicals headquartered in Basle, Switzerland.Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange .
☞ Was deputed as CFO to simultaneously manage two of its joint ventures in the areas of Textile Dyes and Pigments - reported to the Managing Director.
☞ In this position, I was overall responsible for the Finance, Accounts, IT and Administration of the Joint Ventures.
☞ Part of the Leadership Team which doubled the turnover of these companies in a period of four years and at the same time ensuring a PBT of 10 % .
Worked closely with the international headquarters at Basle (Switzerland ).
Reported to the Executive Director Finance on the Board of Philips.
☞ Mar '86 -July 97 - Philips India Ltd., Mumbai (turnover in India, around US $ 800 million) consisting of seven manufacturing centres encompassed in five business divisions. This company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange .
This is a subsidiary of the US dollar 32 billion Dutch multinational - N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken having significant presence in Lighting, Consumer Electronics, Domestic Appliances & Personal Care, Components and Industrial Electronic segments, headquartered in Eindhoven, Holland.
☞ Joined as Officer Financial Analysis and Budgeting dept. & rose to the position of General Manager - Finance & Accounts, reporting to the Executive Director - Finance. Last assignment was to divest Philips Telecommunication Industries Limited, a joint venture between the West Bengal Government and Philips - this assignment was successfully carried out.
☞Overall in-charge of Accounting & Finance which involved :
- Driving the annual Budgeting and the Strategic Planning exercise for the group - ensuring that the operational budget is in line with the strategic plans .
- Drive the quarterly forecasting for the group to ensure achievement of at least the budgeted results and make changes to budget based on environmental changes.
- Group reporting to headquarters at Eindhoven, Netherlands, on a monthly basis within the 5th of the next month on the basis of IAS . This was also issued as MIS to the Board in India.
- Have worked closely with the international headquarters at Eindhoven (Holland ) and Cambridge (UK).
- A full set of audited accounts on a yearly basis on the basis if IAS to be provided to headquarters within one month of the end of the year, that is January end . Group reporting was on Jan-Dec. axis.
- Statutory reporting to the shareholders on the basis of Indian GAAP, after audit, on a yearly basis . For India purposes, accounting year was Apr- March .
- Half yearly and yearly reporting to shareholders as per Stock Exchange requirements as per Indian GAAP.
- Tax audit on a Apr- March basis and payment of tax as per fiscal regulations.
- Cash Flow management .
- Cost cutting and right sizing of balance sheet .
- Corporate Governance - Introduction of Corporate Governance based on the Cadbury Committee report . Till then there were no formal Corporate Governance norms .
- Last assignment was to divest Webel Telecommunication Industries Ltd., a JV between Philips and the West Bengal government . This was successfully carried out at a record price which was made possible by adding great value to the business in the limited time available before the " due diligence " was carried out by the prospective purchaser .
☞ Oct '83 - Mar '86: A. F. Ferguson & Co., Chartered Accountants, Mumbai (now a member firm of Deloitte) as Audit in-charge. Led the audit team and finalized audits of huge companies like Cyanamid India Ltd., Burroughs Wellcome India Limited, Miles India Ltd., Kodak India, The Associated Cement Companies Limited, etc..The accounts of US companies like Cyanamid India, Miles India, Kodak India were finalised under US GAAP and accounts sent to headquarters at USA for consolidation. Similarly, in case of UK companies like Burroughs Wellcome India, the accounts were finalised under IAS ( UK GAAP) and sent to UK for consolidation . The local accounts were made under Indian GAAP for the shareholders.
☞ CMA from Institute of Cost Accountants of India, Kolkata in 1991.
☞ LLB from Government Law College, Mumbai in 1984.
☞ C.A. from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Delhi in 1983.
☞ B.Com. (Hons.) from R. A. Podar College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai, Mumbai University in 1979.