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Tel: 01582 516300 or Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Patrick Lavelle
Strategic, forward-looking CFO, with extensive growth and turnaround experience internationally
For interim and part-time CFO Patrick Lavelle, Finance is about being strategic and forward-looking, not simply managing day-to-day accounting processes. His objective is to help businesses understand and improve their results, and maximise their value – as well as to successfully return to profitability in those firms that are distressed or require crisis management. It’s an approach that has served him well in an international career spanning over 30 years, working in and with businesses of all sizes and across many sectors. From startups to established companies eyeing expansion, and from family-owned concerns to multinational corporations, Patrick has both optimised and rescued businesses’ performance across industries as diverse as construction, manufacturing, retail pharmacy, health and beauty, equipment rental, and aircraft maintenance. And even outside his Finance role, Patrick keeps his finger firmly on the business pulse. He holds non-executive Director positions in both a manufacturing and distribution business and a not-for-profit organisation, and is also a Board member of the Dublin and Galway chapters of BITA (British & Irish Trading Alliance).
Experience
Patrick has a track record of implementing change programmes in complex operations. This means he is well placed to help businesses proactively reshape their Finance function to focus on critical metrics - cash flow and EBITDA amongst them - and to develop business plans that drive positive outcomes in these respects.
He’s also highly experienced in business restructuring and turnaround, crisis management and survival plans, and debt restructuring.
Highlights from his career include:
- New business setup – Implementing reporting and control systems for newly established businesses.
- Cash flow, budgeting, forecasting – Developing cash flow forecasts and implementing strategies to improve working capital and cash positions, including in crises. Developing detailed, budgeted business plans, including revenues, costs, and working capital, and providing updates through forecasts.
- Driving growth (acquisition, expansion, funding) – Identifying, investigating, and integrating multiple business acquisitions; carrying out due diligence; driving growth through expansion into new locations and business channels. Supporting multiple clients through fundraising with banks, private equity investors, and venture capital companies.
- Business turnaround and restructuring – Detailed review of all activities; developing strategies and action plans to restore profitability and improve cash and working capital. Rigorously managing and reducing costs; debt restructuring/replacement; implementing systems to monitor progress against objectives.
- Sale of businesses – Preparing and supporting the sale of businesses; improving revenues and driving EBITDA in advance of going to market. Enabling dialogue with potential purchasers through data rooms; transitioning ownership seamlessly following completion of contracts.
- Reporting and systems – Designing and implementing financial and operational reporting systems across multi-location and multi-jurisdictional sites; implementing enterprise resource planning software as part of a global roll-out.
Skills
Business rescue and turnaround, Business restructuring, Business plans, Business coaching, Business analysis, Cash & working capital management, Cost controls, Crisis management, Debt restructuring, Due diligence, Exit planning, Fund raising, Financial Health checks, Financial management, Interim management, Investment appraisals, Leadership, New business set-up, Non-executive director, People management, Reorganisation, Sale of businesses, Stakeholder management, Survival plans.
Sectors
- Aviation
- Automotive
- Construction
- Distribution
- Equipment rental
- Manufacturing
- Retail pharmacy
Hobbies and Interests
Just as Patrick turns businesses around, he strives to turn lives around too. His work with local and State bodies supports the education, training, and rehabilitation of young people who have entered the criminal justice system, equipping them with skills that enable them to become responsible, economically active members of society.
Patrick also enjoys watching and playing golf!
Patrick’s work in action
Clarity on CashFlow for Irish Retail Chain
A retail chain in Ireland was losing money and had run into cashflow problems. Their suppliers were no longer prepared to supply goods on credit and all purchases had to be paid for in cash before delivery. The company’s staff retention had also become a major problem.
Read Case Study
