Patrick Devine

Financial Operations

I have delivered transformative change to update Financial Operations and Reporting, ensuring it is relevant and meets the business needs. This involves coaching and mentoring the existing Finance teams to fulfil their potential. This has given the solid bedrock of up-to date financial information on which to base future key business decisions.

Profit Improvement

I work with Executive teams to get behind the numbers, understanding which key drivers will increase Income and which levers can reduce Expenditure. By focusing and forecasting the impact of Strategic decisions to positively benefit the key drivers I have improved profit and cash flows in a systematic and sustainable manner.

Systems & Controls

Through years of experience, I have pin-pointed pivotal tasks within each business, which I have improved together with the existing teams, to remove surprises. I’m leading the charge to use the best technology and systems control software, now more affordable than ever, to take the strain and automate processes to improve efficiency. This gives Executive teams more comfort and support and allows more time to make quality decisions to improve the business.

M&A Specialist

I have successfully completed four acquisitions in the UK and Europe, while also analysing and discounting many more that were unsuitable. This involved detailed business analysis, collaborating closely with legal teams and valuation specialists. I led the post-acquisition integration of financial workstreams, merging teams and standardizing processes across the Group. A particularly challenging but rewarding experience was holding a seller accountable for Warranties & Indemnities, recovering a significant portion of the purchase price and gaining valuable insights for future acquisitions.

Exit Planning

I have successfully completed corporate disposals to Private Equity (PE) and the sale of an SME to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). For the EOT sale I fully supported the business owner/founder, providing the company valuation and engaging the legal team to ensure full compliance with HMRC. For the sale to PE I worked with the counterparty finance and legal representatives to stock the data room and input key clauses into the sale agreement. I significantly reduced the costs of external advisors and was able to hand-hold the seller through an often emotional process.