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Margin & Working Capital Intervention

Profit issues are rarely
about revenue.

They are almost always about pricing discipline, cost-to-serve, and working capital leakage.

I work inside industrial businesses to identify where margin and cash are being lost — and implement the controls to fix it.

Discuss a Situation →

Engagements are typically short-term, high-impact interventions — not ongoing advisory. Deployed across Australia and APAC.

Part of The Commercial Engine™ → Working Capital & Cash
Inventory EBITDA

Profit doesn’t leak slowly.
It erodes through small, undisciplined decisions repeated every day.

Where Value Is Lost

The leakage is real.
It is also fixable.

These are not complex problems. They are common operational failures that accumulate quietly — until they become visible in the P&L or on the balance sheet.

  • 01

    Discounting without control

    Salespeople applying discounts without margin visibility. Revenue maintained while profit erodes below the surface.

  • 02

    Inconsistent pricing across customers or branches

    Same product, different prices, no structural reason. Signals pricing fragility and creates customer-level margin compression.

  • 03

    Excess or slow-moving inventory

    Capital locked in stock that is not turning. Cash consumed, carrying costs rising, and margin diluted by a long product tail.

  • 04

    Poor visibility of true margin by product or customer

    Revenue is tracked. Gross margin by customer or SKU is not. Business grows into low-margin work without realising it.

  • 05

    Weak operating cadence and accountability

    No consistent rhythm of performance review. Problems compound between reporting cycles. Accountability sits at the top — not through the organisation.

Working capital is not a finance issue.

It is an operational discipline issue.

Inventory levels, debtor days, supplier terms — these are not set by the CFO. They are the result of decisions made every day by operations, sales, and procurement teams operating without the right discipline or visibility.

That is where the intervention happens.

What I Actually Do

Not analysis.
Intervention.

This is not a review of your P&L or a presentation of findings. It is embedded operational work — inside the business, with the teams, implementing controls that hold after I leave.

  • → Restoring pricing discipline at customer and product level
  • → Improving margin visibility across the book
  • → Reducing excess and slow-moving inventory
  • → Tightening cash conversion — debtors, suppliers, freight
  • → Installing operating cadence and accountability frameworks
  • → Building KPI infrastructure that leadership can own and sustain
What This Unlocks

Immediate outcomes.
Sustained performance.

Outcome 01

Immediate EBITDA improvement

Margin recovery through pricing correction and cost discipline — visible in the P&L within the first engagement period.

Outcome 02

Stronger cash flow

Working capital release through inventory reduction and debtor discipline. Cash generated from operational improvement — not financing.

Outcome 03

Clearer performance visibility

Margin by customer, product and branch. Leadership that can see what is working and what is not — in real time.

Outcome 04

A more valuable business

Higher EBITDA, lower working capital, stronger operating systems. A business that performs under scrutiny — from buyers, investors or management.

$1.3m → $5.2m

EBITDA Expansion

500bps+

Margin Improvement

$12.6m → $9.3m

Inventory Reduction

When I Get Called

Specific situations.
A specific need.

This engagement is not for businesses that want a general review. It is for businesses where the problem is visible — and the owner or investor wants it fixed.

  • 01 Margins are under pressure despite stable or growing revenue
  • 02 Cash is tight despite reported profitability
  • 03 Inventory continues to grow without a clear operational reason
  • 04 Leadership lacks clear visibility on true margin by customer or product
  • 05 PE investor or board wants measurable improvement before the next reporting period
Discuss a Situation →

Next Step

If you can see the problem,
the next step is straightforward.

30-minute call. Scott will tell you directly whether there is a fit and what the engagement would look like.

Discuss a Situation →

Related

Working Capital Improvement Pricing Discipline EBITDA Growth Mandates Contact