Michael Bilton Email & Phone Number

London, Paddington

- Preparing annual budgets and a three-year business plan for this new start up bus operator who purchased three London bus garages, servicing 24 TfL routes, with 400 buses and 1,500 staff, from First Group plc- Assisting in reviewing potential acquisition targets and becoming the Finance Director of two of them- Highlighting areas of potential improvement to current financial reporting systems and processes including the introduction of new systems- Undertaking ad hoc projects including the group annual insurance renewal, obtaining asset finance for passenger service vehicles, preparing tenders and securing new work, managing the Group's Transactional Services team, managing a cloud based data room for a disposal

London

Project managed the disposal of 9 bus depots with a combined turnover of £220m and an EBITDA of £25m.- Interfaced with the local operating directors, representatives of the group board, First Group’s financial advisors and local management- Managed a cloud based Data Room- Liaised with the local finance team and remote experts to answer over 1,500 questions, raised through the Data Room, from 7 bidders, accurately, consistently and in a timely fashion- Co-ordinated the transitional arrangements between the three successful bidders and the on-going First business including apportionments, legacy record retention and final statutory accounts

Esher, Surrey

Key achievements include:- Carried out due diligence on four potential acquisitions, two of which were successfully acquired - Relocated the HO twice over five years, processing redundancies, recruiting, staff training and integration. Both moves generated significant efficiencies and economies (over £1m). - Restructured the finance team in London and recruited a new finance team, in Cheshire, following an acquisition- Designed Excel models for business planning, statutory account production and detailed cash management- Member of the Executive Review Board ensuring that all safety, quality, assurance and environmental issues were regularly considered, implemented and reviewed- Raised over £10m finance to fund capital expenditure on rail plant

Crowborough, East Sussex

Key achievements include:- Produced the 2007 business plan for the USA, Brazil, EAME and Asian businesses, presented and gained agreement to it from the quoted parent company board (Spectris Plc)- Completed and issued the 2006 statutory accounts- Recruited a senior Finance Manager to run the US operation in Huston, Texas- Coordinated global financial reporting on the relatively new SAP system- Evaluated and selected a CRM system

New Cross, London

- In conjunction with the auditors negotiated and signed off prior year tax issues with HMRC- Prepared the 2005 statutory accounts which were eventually signed off with a clean audit report- Negotiated increased facilities (additional £1m) with the group’s bankers- Set up three joint ventures, two local and one in Kurdistan

London, Madrid, Milan, Stockholm, Geneva, Frankfurt, Bangkok

- Rapid expansion of the customer base’s telecommunication operations overseas required the setting up of 9 European and 1 Asian subsidiaries- Devised and implemented a cost reduction program in the UK to counteract falling local revenues saving over £1m- Set up and attended overseas subsidiary company management meetings offering guidance, training and support- Identified and negotiated with legal, banking and accounting partners in Europe and SE Asia to facilitate the setting up and subsequent running of overseas subsidiary companies- Evaluated, selected and implemented a multi-currency accounting system in the UK

Guildford, Surrey

- Negotiated additional shareholder loans (£1.5m)- Revised and improved banking arrangements to refinance the business (£1m)- Rebuilt the finance team, replaced the auditors, introduced new financial systems- Sold the reshaped business to a quoted US, global player

London, United Kingdom

- Negotiated an injection of funding from both the bank (£1m) and the Venture Capital partner (£1m) to survive the 1990 recession- Designed and implemented a programme of downsizing, strict asset management and cash control reducing the overdraft by 80% and returning to profitability- The business was ultimately sold to a major, quoted competitor

Education record

Education record

Education record