We had managed a growth of 300% in its first year in a very difficult manufacturing environment. Apart from the full finance function – the day to day accounting, reconciliations, preparation of management accounts, budgeting, estimating, costing and pricing I also utilize spare time to do some business development.This function and job has fitted in very well as I have had to take time off to complete some private work for my family.

I was hired as a Financial Controller, assuming complete responsibility for the accounting function. Supervising a team of nine which included two trainee Management Accountants. The role required reporting to the CFO in the US. The UK business consisted of a UK and three European Subsidiaries. I was involved in all aspects of Financial and Management Accounting including the preparations of budgets, monthly Management Accounts and reporting. The role included dealing with financial institutions, banks and Audit work. Having stabilized the finance function, I was promoted to General Manager and appointed Managing Director in August 2005. STS is a US$80m/pa global business providing soft packaging for the High Street retailers. The UK Operations contributed one third of the global business. In October 2005, S2S Europe completed the purchase of a UK manufacturer of outer cartons with a staff of 96 people, and a turnover of £10.2mAchievements at S2S. Stabilised loss making UK business of a global organization. Hived up UK subsidiaries and European subsidiary, creating legal 2 European trading entities, setting up trading, financial reporting and infrastructure in Amsterdam. Created a UK non-textile sales team. Initiated and negotiated the purchase of JHP including: Supervising and preparing the due diligence. Setting up financing for the deal. Briefing and instructing the Solicitors. Organise and plan the shutdown of Nottingham production facilities. Drove down costs of £600k pa. between the two entities Setup offshore facilities in Turkey.

I started as an Accounts Clerk and worked through to being responsible for the accounts and production. The experience I gained was exceptional - From the regular maintaining of the Management Accounts - budgeting, reconciliations, budgetting and monthly KPI’s. Preparation of final accounts for audit. The accounts were prepared on 3 different systems across 4 sites. Chatham acquired 4 businesses between 1998 and 2001. I played a key role in the complete process of the acquisition and raising the necessary finances.Other commercial achievements Scheduling, managing workflows, including supervising stock and despatch. Managed production over 4 sites. For a considerable period of time, I handled the IT function which included support and training of the MIS, Graphics and Office related products.Other Adhoc projects undertaken included:Marketing Initiative The project lasted six months with two consultants, under the Department of Trade & Industry’s Marketing Initiative scheme. I was involved from the initial selection of the consultant to the presentation of the final report. Quality Assurance Initiative This initiative gave me an in depth understanding of the Quality Assurance Standards expectations at work.