It was important for our growing business to have the right financial processes in place to support our plans for the next 5-10 years. With this in mind, Delphine carried out a full review of the Group’s financial systems and team responsibilities so we could ensure a joined up, efficient approach to aid our strategic plans.

She spent time understanding the Group’s structure and focused on the financial needs of each entity in terms of monitoring, analysis and reporting. All staff, and outsourced providers, were interviewed to gain a clear understanding of the systems, controls and software they were using.

Delphine’s report to the Board was thorough, recommending helpful ways we could strengthen our financial operations so we can look forward to our next strategic growth phase with confidence.

I was delighted to work with Delphine who was thoroughly professional and easy to work with throughout the assignment. Delphine supported one of our clients by building a flexible, financial forecasting model we could present to lenders to assist us in securing an Asset Based Lend of £9M.

The model met the needs of our deal team and lenders alike, allowing sensitivities to be run so headroom could be analysed for an appropriate debt structure. It was also practical and “user friendly ” and so was adopted by the client as their “go to” model.

Delphine was an asset in both client and lender discussions, using the information she had gained during the financial modelling process to provide financial clarity. Despite an incredibly tight timescale, we were able to successfully complete the deal and I thank Delphine for her support.

Delphine built a three-way financial model to allow us to both easily analyse our historic data and forecast forward, providing the logic and comfort to aid strategic decision making.

Delphine ensured she understood our business, so the model best fitted our needs. Her accounting knowledge also meant that the service was far more than a model build, as she was able to understand and guide us in accounting treatments and our reporting. We were clear on progress every step of the way and the process was very smooth.

The final model has been extremely easy for us to operate with automatic downloads from our Sage system and an ability to quickly forecast our future. I would certainly recommend Delphine’s support.

When raising debt for our clients, it is crucial that we are provided with credible 3-way, financial forecasting models so we can accurately assess debt quantum, structure, serviceability and covenants. I worked with Delphine recently when raising asset-based debt for an acquisition. Her lending and accounting background ensured models met all the needs of the deal team. Furthermore, models could roll forward to aid the monitoring and reporting of financial performance post-deal.

Delphine’s financial models were logical and credible and could easily be sensitised to assess headroom, so we could negotiate appropriate terms. Delphine was extremely supportive and it was a pleasure to work with her.

Financial modelling support was required to assess our acquisition of the powder blending and manufacturing business of Ornua Nutrition Ingredients UK Ltd, so we could realise our strategic plans and extend into manufacturing. Delphine immediately understood what was required and built two integrated, flexible financial models for the separate entities, to aid financial understanding of the deal and forecast profitability and cash flows. The models enabled the deal team to flex debt structures to assess the best mix of asset based and term debt, and stood up to an intense due diligence process, satisfying lenders, Leumi ABL.

Timescales were tight, but Delphine not only delivered the models, but was a helpful sounding board during the entire process, providing advice, reviews and making introductions so we could find auditors that were a good fit for our business. She worked seamlessly with both our internal finance team and the FRP deal team.

Post acquisition, Delphine has continued to be a strong addition to our enlarged Group, supporting the finance teams of both our original business and the acquired factory, rebranded as Allicio Nutrition Ltd. She has implemented controls to ensure robust financial reporting in the future as we move forward with our successful acquisition. I thank her for her help.

Following a successful acquisition, it was necessary to extend our cash flow visibility to our enlarged group. Delphine listened to our needs and reviewed our current systems. She then suggested the most appropriate solution for us to both pull our data together and then use this to produce rolling forecasts.

Delphine built us a consolidated management account and forecasting system, bringing together a newly acquired business and the main business’ financial data. The model drew information automatically from a Sage system download, stripped out inter-company transactions and gave us a clear cash summary. We could also forecast forward under numerous scenarios, enabling us to see the outcome of potential business decisions without the risk.

The model has already allowed us to share data with third parties with confidence and will be an invaluable tool to help our business grow.

Delphine has been of great assistance to our business, providing interim CFO services. During this time, she has provided financial analysis to aid us in the growth of our business and developed a financial management tool to forecast our cash flow needs and assist us with our internal monitoring and budgeting.

Delphine produced our monthly Board data, introduced us to other helpful professionals and sought out quality staff to boost our finance team. She has also been an ideal sounding board for our key strategic decisions.

I am grateful for her help and would certainly recommend her services.

Forward Financials were recommended to me from a city corporate financier and I am extremely glad that we chose them to help us build a financial model for our business.

Delphine knew exactly what she was looking for when going over our books and was able to deliver a comprehensive model that was easy to follow and will set up our business well going forward.

The whole process was stressless and put together with utter professionalism and the role developed into that of a part time, interim Financial Director.

We would highly recommend Forward Financials’ services.

Getting funding is one thing. Getting the right funding needs the right professionals on your team. Delphine’s knowledge of how the banking industry works achieved both of our two, perhaps seemingly diverse, objectives. Funding the buy-out of a senior shareholder and providing cash flow for a period of strong business growth.

Looking back, I realise we could not have done it without her. She will be an integral part of our team to achieve our future business expansion plans.

Having recently worked on a deal with Delphine I can honestly say that the quality of proposal that she puts forward is second to none.  Her reports are both detailed and of excellent quality, it is clear to see that Delphine understands the dynamics of what makes a deal work for a commercial lender.

Delphine is also very personable and approachable, I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending her services and look forward to working with her again in the future.

Having seen first-hand examples of the proposals that Delphine produces for her clients to present to banks to assess lending proposals, it is apparent that her experience as a qualified accountant, a front line lender and credit analyst sees one of the best lending proposal packages I have seen prepared – adding tremendous value both to client and prospective lender.

I was fortunate enough to work with Delphine for a series of financial coaching sessions. Her professional and personable approach fitted perfectly with our small business. Delphine brought with her a wealth of experience and knowledge which has supported me in putting the right building blocks in place so that we are well positioned as we scale up the business. 

One of the key pieces of work that Delphine guided me through was the building of a complex financial model – I was initially daunted at the thought, but her measured approach resulted in a robust model – this will support me in my role as CFO in all financial matters: reporting to the board, forecasting, cashflow, planning and budgeting. The model will enable me to report accurate, meaningful data to support the business in their decision-making process. Having all data in one model has freed up my time so that I can spend it on the value-added tasks.

I would not hesitate to recommend Delphine and hope to work with her again in the future.

Delphine built a financial model that brought together our historic and forecast data to support an MBO. She understood the requirements and issues immediately and met a tight deadline to ensure the deal team received a professional model that was credible, flexible and easily audited.  Her work made a significant contribution to the due diligence process to give the MBO funders confidence in the transaction.

Delphine was a pleasure to work with and her expertise in building a financial model that reflected the specifics of our business and its cash flows was an invaluable part of the successful MBO.  As a result, I would be more than happy to recommend her.

Delphine built a robust financial model for one of our portfolio companies to support its ongoing operations, management information requirements and covenant reporting in a private equity backed environment.

She navigated a complex financing structure with relative ease, worked to tight deadlines and produced a model that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

Delphine’s highly responsive, committed and friendly approach made her a pleasure to work with and the output was delivered to a high standard. Thank you!
 

I had the pleasure of working with Delphine on a recent project raising debt finance for a client.  She provided excellent support to their finance department – in particular translating their vision into a five-year financial model to share with the banks. 

Additionally, she assisted with sensitising the model and reviewing covenants to help finalise the transaction.  All the work was undertaken in an extremely timely, efficient and accurate manner.  I have no hesitation in recommending her to clients.   

Time and time again I have seen Delphine help businesses obtain finance, whether for growth or to see them over more challenging times.  She quickly gets to grips with cash flow drivers, building a scenario based financial model to ensure the right amount of finance is sought and that the business has a model in the right format for lenders.  This one stop shop approach stands her apart from traditional brokers who would look to the business to provide any model.     

Delphine has an excellent contact base, ensuring not only the best funding match but a relationship that is going to work long term.  The case she puts forward is thorough, for a swift positive decision, and with her open and honest approach, both business and funder remain fully informed.  This avoids any drawn out, back and forth information process which unfortunately I have seen many businesses endure.

When seeking funding it is important to get it right first time.  A cash flow that stands up to scrutiny, realistic assumptions and accompanying narrative take time to prepare.  This is often needed when growth or challenges are already putting a finance team under pressure.  It therefore makes sense to obtain support early.  If you want a professional on your side, so you can save time, understand your cash flows and secure a competitive deal, I would certainly recommend getting in touch.

Delphine was recommended to me and her work certainly exceeded the support I had previously received from a much larger firm.  She immediately got to the heart of our issues and was not afraid to challenge existing practices to strengthen our financial set up.  She took a hands-on approach and worked to a very tight deadline to satisfy lenders with financial detail supporting our acquisition of a further 6 children’s nurseries. 

Delphine instigated robust financial systems, controls and staff training so we could build a strong finance function to manage the increased workload.  She implemented consolidated reporting of all nursery settings, building a new management account and forecasting system which enabled us to manage our banking covenants.  She also provided me with commercial support to assist with strategy through the interrogation of data.

More recently Delphine provided support during the impact of COVID-19, to help build resilience and fuel our growth.  She worked closely with myself to forecast forward and liaised with lenders to reset covenant test levels, as a result of the pandemic closures.  She is extremely diligent and her friendly approach has helped her work seamlessly with myself, my team, bankers and accountants.  She adds real value to my business and I would be happy to recommend her services.

Forward Financials have assisted Reader Offers through different stages of its development.  They initially assisted us with a project where their analytical support, modelling, sound commercial advice and experience of financial markets, added great value in assessing our operational strategies. 

More recently, they were able to quickly get to grips with our complex internal management account and forecasting system.  With a can-do attitude and helpful suggestions, they were able to make time-saving improvements and add the scenario detail needed so we could forecast forward with confidence.

Forward Financials certainly offers a service tailored to needs and I would be very happy to recommend them.

Delphine helped one of our TV programming and broadcasting clients with a forecasting system to provide visibility of income and cash flow. Our client’s channel contracts were extremely complex, but Delphine took this in her stride studying the intricacies to build a model that matched all variables. As a result, the client can now flex forecast audience numbers, with the model working through pricing and commission triggers saving them considerable time running “what if” scenarios.

The model also works seamlessly with the outsourced services we provide, with our monthly data automatically populating the model in terms of management information so the model continually rolls forward from actual to forecast data.

Delphine worked closely with our client and ourselves to ensure the model included all their needs and I would certainly recommend her services.

During these unprecedented and worrying times, financial stability for SME’s is paramount to help to ensure their survival and future success. I commend Delphine Paterson for her wise counsel, knowledge and dedication in guiding us through the myriad of protocols to take advantage of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme and Future Fund.

If you need working capital facilities to help you to bounce back higher, look no further.

As somebody with no experience of the high street retail sector, I worked closely with Delphine whose work on the business model of the company enabled me to gain an invaluable in depth understanding of the sector and was vital to enable Blue Inc to continue to trade in a CVA.

Both the shareholders and I have a high regard for Delphine’s professionalism, technical knowledge and help in resolving issues and have no hesitation in recommending Delphine.

Working with Forward Financials has revolutionised our business and as a result of their work we were recently able to draw down new facilities and ensure our bankers received quality management information going forward. 

We now have complete transparency across all our accounts and forecasting models that have been sensitised, this has been crucial for us to shape the future of our business and prioritise key revenue streams.  I couldn’t recommend Forward Financials highly enough and with their down to earth approach they have very quickly become an important part of our business going forward.

Delphine helped a group company, APCER Life Sciences to build a bespoke forecasting model and also to run sensitivities and predict covenant compliance.  She worked seamlessly with management and APCER’s finance team to deliver a comprehensive solution which contributed to a successful restructuring and financing.  

We greatly appreciate her contribution and intend to work with her again.

Having worked with Delphine for many years, it is evident that Forward Financials adds great value to any client proposal, from the initial debt application to providing clear and timely monitoring data thereafter.  

Their years of banking experience ensures the Bank receives exactly what is required in terms of financial data, supporting narrative, detailed covenant calculations and forecasts, providing visibility so the credit assessment is much easier.  It is clear they take great pride in developing strong professional relationships with their clients, taking time to understand the business, ensure the right data is captured and interpreted and making improvements, as necessary, to help the business work smarter and grow.

Their involvement provides comfort that the client has a hands-on approach to their finances.

I have worked with Delphine for several years now with a particular client. She has really helped to give both the client and the bank much greater visibility on the financial performance of the business but also proactively assists the client interpreting the information and using this to make improvements/take appropriate action where needed.

She is really engaging and really helps bring the numbers to life enabling the production of a monthly MI pack to track performance to budgets. Furthermore, Delphine has always been readily available to support the client and the Bank by way of joint meetings.  Many thanks Delphine.

I recently worked with Delphine on a deal for a mutual customer.  The quality of the analysis provided was extremely well constructed and made the credit assessment process much easier to both understand and enable a quick positive credit sanction.

I have very much enjoyed working with Forward Financials and have found them to be highly professional and attentive in all that they have done.

Having worked with Delphine on a case through the difficulties of COVID 19, I can say she provided our client with excellent Finance Director support. 

The management information and realistic forecasts she produced helped the business make important strategic decisions so weaker areas could be divested and more profitable ventures expanded. As a lender, this information also provided us with the comfort that financial control was robust.

Despite the challenging times, with Delphine’s help, the banking relationship continued to be a strong one with excellent communication and flow of information. Overall, Delphine’s support was invaluable to the bank, providing confidence debt levels could continue to be serviced and ensuring protective covenants were well defined and set at realistic levels

Delphine is excellent at what she does.  She engages with business partners and clients in a very professional manner. 

The service she provides is invaluable in establishing enterprise value and determining strategic options for business development and the associated funding analysis which underpins new and existing sources of finance.

We had the good fortune to work with Forward Financials earlier this year when launching a new proposition to our developer clients.

Following discussion with Forward Financials, it became apparent how important a thorough understanding of our clients’ financial position and attitude to risk would be to our offering. We commissioned Forward Financials to complete a comprehensive review of our target clients’ accounts and model the financial benefits of them working with us. We were impressed by their thorough, comprehensive and timely approach to our remit.

In our experience, Forward Financials is a completely professional firm with an in depth understanding of their sector and an appreciation of how to deliver benefits to their clients but always with integrity and a commitment/adherence to the highest standards of accounting practices. As with many businesses we have had to be conscious of expenditures, however, there is no question that any costs incurred were more than offset by the tangible benefits of being able to tailor our product most effectively based on the data generated by Forward Financials.

The Forward Financials output played an integral and essential part in forming our strategic approach to the market. I have no hesitation in recommending the benefits of collaborating with Forward Financials if one’s goal is to achieve financial transparency, clarity, rigour and ultimately enhanced commercial rewards

I have had the great pleasure of working with Forward Financials on a number of occasions in recent years and they have consistently delivered above and beyond expectations.  

One of their great strengths is the depth and breadth of commercial knowledge across a number of industry sectors garnered from practical exposure during their time with one of the UK’s premier lending institutions whose corporate client base was itself segmented across specialist units aligned within industry sectors. This included a number of people/intellectual property based industries not least professional practices and of course Technology, Media and Telecoms.

Forward Financials are experienced in assessing the multitude of differing business models adopted by their clients and appreciate the constantly changing commercial environment corporates now have to operate within, for example; the difficulties faced during the transition between traditional delivery channels and the emerging digital landscape. This is particularly pertinent within the TMT sector and having used their expertise on a number of transactions it is refreshing to work with a team who can consistently deliver quality work on time and on budget.

Delphine has helped me look at my business in a whole new way.  Not just with the basic running and cash flow in my business, but also managing that cash flow, forward planning and risk analysis. 

Through her help and direction, we have created the tools to help me properly run and understand my business and help drive it forward and grow properly.

Delphine is a one stop shop for banking intelligence.  Her commercial insight and market knowledge saved us considerable time.  Why would anyone want to go it alone?”

We found Forward Financials really made a difference in our understanding of costs, income, cash flow and profitability with helpful suggestions as to the action we should take now to make our club more successful going forward.

They have also saved us a considerable amount of time each month with one easy to use model which brings together all our financial information and highlights any monthly deviance early. Overall, we are much more organised so we can spend more time on what we do best.

I recently had the fortuitous good fortune to be introduced to Delphine by the host of a business event I’d been invited to.  He introduced her as ‘a wonderful financial whizz and expert in Excel’.  My ears pricked up because I had been looking for someone who could turn my rather mundane-looking but extremely useful business strategy tools I use in Excel, into something agile, user-friendly and professional-looking, that would also save me execution time and further help my clients.

After a successful first meeting, Delphine was confident that she could transform my work into vastly improved Excel documents, including graphical displays, that did exactly what I wanted them to.  Well, not only did Delphine do that, but she absolutely exceeded my expectations by adding in additional features, hidden protection, tackling ideas and routes in Excel she hadn’t explored before to get the results I was after.  Those results were truly amazing!  The documents were company branded using my corporate colours and looked nothing like Excel documents at all.

Additionally, Delphine gave me in-depth Excel coaching sessions so that I was able to understand how to get the best out of the new models and to edit elements where necessary without upsetting the fundamental presentation of the documents.  She was patient, helpful and joyful to work with.

Thank you, Delphine, for your excellent work, in-depth consultation to keep looking for answers to the challenges and finding them.  it was a pleasure to work with you and I would confidently and whole-heartedly recommend you and your talent to any business that needed it.  I know that they will be as amazed and delighted as I have been!