Gareth Upton Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Manchester, England, Gb

Knutsford, Gb

• Lead weekly trading meetings with CEO, CFO and Managing Directors of Hotels and Tour Operator business units to review 3 month forecasts and identify opportunities and risks.• Head up the Commercial Finance Teams for the Group (5 direct reports and 10 indirect reports) including recruitment, performance management and mentoring.• Produce monthly management accounts, reporting to the private equity owner on trading performance and benefits enabled from cost optimisation and revenue generation initiatives.• Lead the production for all operating units of regular forecasts, detailed annual Budget and 3 Year Strategic Growth Plan with clear timelines and categorisation of opportunities, including forecasted investment and returns. Used to obtain extension of banking facilities.• Liaising at board level to understand information requirements, presenting and interpreting data and producing analysis.• Business partnering with several key stakeholders across different divisions.

Manchester, England, Gb

Finance Lead, DDC Strategy Transformation Team • Financial and operational due diligence for acquisitions including the identification and mitigation of risks.• Plan and implement the integration of acquisitions into the core business to minimise disruption, protect customer goodwill and ensure continued supply. • Produce robust business cases and post opening evaluations for new stores to deliver profitable organic growth. • Financial modelling to produce budgets and forecasts for the Transformation workstreams.• Provide insightful reporting (both written and verbal presentations) on the performance of the Transformation work streams to both DDC and AkzoNobel UK&I Management Teams. • Provide financial advice and challenge to the Retail Development Director and other key stakeholders to ensure we deliver against strategic objectives and maximise profitability. Senior Finance Business Partner, Head of Decision Support• Partnering the Head of Operations and the Head of Commercial to help the business focus its resource and make decisions based on sound financial information.• Supporting the Commercial and Operations teams with the annual budgeting process and commercial calendar.• Providing financial support to business critical projects to ensure they deliver the ‘best case’ financials.• Assisting the business to develop a compelling service proposition that maximises return on investment.

Toronto, On, Ca

Restructuring Deal Advisory (2011 - 2016)Leading a variety of advisory projects and insolvency workstreams for a range of businesses across all sectors, all typically experiencing some form of stress or distress.Types of work streams and projects include:• Short term cash flow forecasting and management - identifying funding requirements and managing creditors whilst a solution/turnaround can be actioned.• Independent business reviews - obtaining detailed understanding of company operations, performing financial and operational forecast reviews including extensive spreadsheet and variance analysis. • Reviewing working capital and identifying opportunities for clients to unlock cash within the business.• Performing detailed contingency planning in an insolvency situation to maximise returns for creditors. • Accelerated M&A processes• Reviewing the exit options available to companies and lenders - both for existing lends in a distress situation and for new lenders to support the application to credit.• Managing formal insolvency processes (CVAs, Administrations, Liquidations) which involves realising assets, trading if appropriate, reporting to creditors and completing statutory duties. • Transactional due diligence on acquisition targets for our clients, advising on methods to mitigate against potential risk and on the most appropriate deal structure.• Sales and margin improvement projects including cost allocation to support product profitability reviews.• Operational restructuring and turnaround projects for businesses and NHS trusts.Audit (2007-2011) • Wide range of audit clients, across different sectors, building strong relationships with key client contacts, including group FCs, FDs and CEOs.• Responsible for the management of audit engagements delivered to tight timescales, including the leadership and development of junior audit staff.• Providing clients with guidance on technical IFRS/UKGAAP queries.

Bachelor’S Degree, Economics

High School