Global Software Company Improves Performance; Cuts G&A Costs by 25%
Overview of Project
Our client is a publicly held $70 million enterprise software and support solutions company that serves small and medium-sized businesses worldwide. With far-flung global operations, the company was struggling to manage its general and administrative expenses while balancing spending on sales and marketing.
The Challenge
The company needed a plan to reduce G&A expenditures, make their operations more efficient, and add people to its management team for several of the G&A functions. These cost reductions and transitions in leadership needed to occur while the company was undergoing significant growth and acquiring other companies.
The Engagement
The company wanted to assess their G&A structure to determine if it was poised to meet the growth and demands for the future; to recommend ways to reduce current expenditures; to identify and recommend operations efficiencies;, and to assess the global finance group’s ability to execute in a timely fashion and cost-effective manner.
The Solution
Along with Manchester, we conducted a study with the company’s senior management support and determined that the global finance organization needed to be re-structured, the IT systems and business processes were broken, and that professional service providers could be better managed.
The Impact
The company embraced our recommendations which when fully implemented will result in approximately $3.0 million in expense savings and efficiency gains. The company has recruited new leadership and is centralizing a number of basic off-shore functions.
Struggling Advertising Company is Renewed
Overview of Project
Our client, a $20 million public company that develops and markets in-store advertising products, programs, and services for grocery retailers and consumer goods manufacturers, was struggling financially due to expenses associated with an anti-trust lawsuit against a major market competitor. Mount Juliet Ventures worked closely with management to renew the company and create significant new value.
The Challenge
Our client's profits were declining due to expenses associated with a legal battle with a major market competitor. The company's stock, which had been trading as high as $1.65 per share, was trading at a 52-week-low of $0.25. Unhappy shareholders were threatening a proxy war and revenues were declining due to disrupted relationships with customers.
The Engagement
The client's CEO contacted Manchester and Mount Juliet Ventures for assistance rationalizing the company's operations, executing the strategy to resolve the outstanding legal conflicts, and settling the issues with dissident shareholders.
The Solution
Working hand-in-hand with the client's board of directors and executives, Mount Juliet Ventures identified cost-cutting strategies and catalyzed the company's financial planning, reducing ongoing expenses by $1.1 million. We helped the CEO execute the company's strategy to successfully restructure a major contract, resulting in immediate, additional savings of $2.3 million. We also served as third-party negotiators with disgruntled shareholders, improving relationships and ending the threat of a proxy battle.
The Impact
Mount Juliet Ventures' assistance enabled the company to take decisive, effective action to address the situation. That action reassured and reenergized the company's employees. Now, our client is refocused, renewed, and on the path to recovery. Its stock price is trading at $3.69 (09/20/06) and the future looks bright.