Robert Pick Email & Phone Number

Rotherham, England, United Kingdom

RH Commercial Vehicles is the Renault HCV dealer for the East Midlands, offering a range of sales and hire options for Renault trucks and vans, with an annual t/o of £31M and 120 staff across 2 entities.I provide full financial insight whilst innovating new business options to drive commercial validity. I also lead the broader financial and operational function, coordinating, governing, and overseeing all tasks and workflows across the wider business to complete all financial analysis, reports, operational assessments, and performance improvements to my Board colleagues.I’m proud of the achievements which myself and my team have toiled to gain, including multiple industry awards including Renault’s Dealer of the Year 2017, 2018 and 2019, and Commercial Motors Franchised Dealer of the Year 2018.In 2019 my role was adjusted from one of pure finance, to leading the overall performance of the business in the absence of our MD. In 5 years with the business, I’ve led the roll-out of a bespoke rental system, growing the rental fleet from 0 to 420 vehicles. I’ve introduced a parts tracking process, seeing a £45k reduction in losses in Yr1, £30k in Yr2, equating to 2% under industry standard losses. I also managed both the acquisition of our Northampton Depot from Volvo (Renault) and the domestic acquisition of Christy Interiors, leading negotiations on purchase price and contractual arrangements.As Finance Director, I led our HQ £3.5M relocation project, a challenge after 40 years on the same site; I conducted all the required due diligence, engagements, design, and work scheduling, alongside financial direction, which led to a successful move supported by my 3-year business plan, an interest-only finance option and £650k asset funding, maintaining 100% staff satisfaction ratings throughout. I also directed the successful acquisition of an additional dealership region from Renault (Volvo), leading the transition, and growing profit from £50k to £125k in Yr1.

Nottingham

I led, coached and developed a team of 4 qualified finance professionals, overseeing all accounting and finance requirements, including monthly management accounts, KPI’s and analysis, business planning, budget preparation and monitoring, Sales and Purchase ledger, nominal ledger, payroll, and credit control. As with any rentals-based business, cashflow and cash management is a priority finance task, I led on all cash oversight, including our partnership with a portfolio of 24 lenders, the preparation of a rolling daily cashflow forecast, debtor management, and lender reporting.I facilitated business revenue growth of 36% to £15M, with NPBTM maintained at 11%, whilst also increasing company lending facilities by 35% to £30M, providing the capital for future growth. I also directed substantial reductions in borrowing costs, on average 2% per new facility, challenging any increases and conducting SWOT to determine competitor averages.I produced a comprehensive yet stretch, 3-year business plan and negotiated part-sale of the business to private equity and managed the subsequent transition/integration of the Charthire business to TOM Airdrie Ltd post-sale. I conducted a complete overhaul of the company’s financial systems, migrating them from Sage 50 to Sage 200, which improved accuracy, visibility, and increased efficiencies and organisational performance. This also included implementing the automation of manual financial systems to absorb any increases in overheads driven by growth.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

Hydra-Valve AV & PS Ltd., is a water engineering business with an annual turnover of £4.5m, though my tenure was relatively short, as I’d been approached by the MD (as a former Barclays client) to support the business with my expert technical knowledge in driving the exponential financial growth of the business. I led a team of 3, and reported directly to the MD.I managed all accounting and finance requirements in the business, including monthly management accounts, budget preparation, profitability analysis, banking, insurance, and accounting relationships. My primary function was to implement financial control systems, which I did successfully in a matter of months, identifying cost savings of £75k. I also set up monthly management accounts and cashflow management, including a large, short-term lending facility of £200k and long-term invoice discounting facility of £500k – therefore enabling the business plans and goals of the business and completing my role requirement.

Successful portfolio management of 65 clients across a spectrum of industry sectors and ranging from micro to SME to large business scale with facilities to match.

Initially employed in a relationship support role, in 2003 I was promoted to Relationship Manager, with a portfolio of 200 business clients

Education record

Education record