Transformation

This major UK-listed industrial business was near to collapse. Faced with the fallout from a failed merger, the share price had fallen to just a few pence, the Chief Executive had left and the business was torn by internal divisions. Analysts and commentators questioned whether the business would survive.

We were asked to build a new Board, which included recruiting a new Chairman, CEO and four independent directors. Faced with such a broad challenge, we focused initially on the Chairman and Chief Executive positions: the right people in those roles would help enormously when filling the remaining board roles.

Key in this situation was not just the relevant experience and skills of candidates, but their appetite for what would be a tough challenge involving customers, staff, unions, shareholders and governments. Needing to work quickly, we identified and approached a small number of potential candidates for each role, working closely with the remaining members of the Board to keep the process confidential and on-track in the face of sustained media interest. After just a few weeks the Board was able to choose and then announce a new Chairman and Chief Executive team, exceeding all internal and external expectations on the speed and calibre of the appointments.

We then worked with the Chairman to recruit a new team of non-executive directors, recruiting a diverse board which better reflected the strategic challenges the business would face in the future and including nationals of the Netherlands, Germany and the US as well as the UK. We subsequently worked with the CEO to recruit a number of senior members of his team, including two Divisional Managing Directors and several key functional heads, including a new HR Director and Company Secretary.

Since then the business has grown revenue and profits substantially ahead of market expectations, uniting behind a new strategic direction and regaining the ground lost in previous years. The share price has increased more than 25 times since the appointment of the new Chairman and Chief Executive.

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