Commercial Finance Manager

New England Seafood are going through a period of substantial growth and change. Since we acquired the Albert Darnell Group in November 2016, the business has transitioned from a purely Food Service base to a Retail based organisation.

This has included a £3m upgrade (to deliver highly efficient operations) and expansion to meet the exacting standards of the UK Retail industry.  Total sales of £50m are forecast for the year to October 2019, of which £35m will be to UK retailers.  The site is now a major supplier to both Sainsbury’s and Asda, with further plans for expansion over the coming year and beyond!

To ensure we are successful in our endeavours and future profitability of the business, we are seeking to work with a Commercial Finance Manager who has demonstrable expertise of leading and landing change at a similar scale, and who would be driven by:

i) Commercial understanding, driving profitability from operating in a profit centre environment, rather than just a production cost centre.

ii) Having significant influence on the way the Commercial Finance operation needs to be shaped (systems, processes).

iii) Change management; excited by an opportunity to significantly influence how the business transitions from a Food Service based organisation to a Food Retail base.

Accountabilities:

The successful candidate and their team will focus on improving site profitability and factory controls by supporting the management team, and the commercial species and sales teams.

The overriding aim is to drive better decisions and to optimise the use of resources as we expand.

Financial Control:

• Enforce tight financial controls and procedures giving assurance on the integrity of reporting  
• Deliver insightful financial analysis and reporting: 
• Deliver accurate customer, product and species profitability analysis
• Review operational efficiency and factory line performance in collaboration with factory team
• Support commercial management (species and customer teams) to develop promotional plans and conduct post-audit assessment of the commercial success of those plans
• Provide stock management support - ensuring stock is appropriately held and monitored
• Support for budget and forecast preparation for the site and species
• Influence achievement of budgets and KPI targets
• Constantly assess risks and support management to develop mitigation strategies
• Improve cash and working capital awareness and control within the business and support the Financial Accounting Team to build accurate cash flow forecasts
• Ensure robust processes for raw material planning are linked into foreign currency cash requirements so that foreign currency purchases are appropriately funded
• Deliver high quality support to commercial teams in advance of customer presentations
• Meet priorities and deadlines within mutually agreed timelines with high quality output
• Undertake business modelling and evaluation of potential growth opportunities
• Apply best practice financial evaluation and scenario-building methodologies to address business issues 

Enhanced reporting:

• Preparation of weekly trading reports for the site and analysis of the trends in the business Identify and formulate standard reports to be provided to management and business teams
• Be fully aware of business developments and identify and develop new reporting required to support management
• Liaise with the Financial Accounting Team to ensure information is collected and held in a way that it is easily accessible and simplifies reporting  

Month end reporting:

• Providing control and identification of accurate cut-off and accruals in accordance with the timetable
• Providing analysis of variances between the weekly trading reports and the monthly accounts with succinct commentary, to the management team  

Build strong cross-functional and cross-site relationships: 

• Provide a credible commercial conscience to the business, holding commercial teams to account to deliver plans
• Collaborate across the business to share learnings and develop capabilities  

Essential Experience, Skills and Knowledge required:

• Current or recent experience of having worked in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, preferably chilled/ retail Recognised accountancy qualification
• Evidence of successful change management in a similar capacity
• Strong Excel experience with flexible approach to scenario modelling
• Confident in ability to improve the profitability of the business
• Demonstrable experience of having improved processes, systems, procedures and reporting
• Capable of improving efficiency in the factory and the wider business
• Seek to maximise capacity through analysis and recommendations, based on a deep understanding of the practicalities of food production
• Rigorous and uncompromising in implementing detailed financial controls within a business  

Desirable:

• Sage Line 500/1000 system experience
• Experience gained in an environment of rapid growth  

Attributes:

• Comfortable challenging the status quo in a positive way
• Excellent inter-personal communication skills
• Self-starter and self-motivated
• Persuasive, tenacious
• Willingness to be pragmatic whilst understanding the risks
• A track record of effective prioritisation  

Our values run through our business and are; Respect, Customer Care, By Learning we Grow, Team Spirit and Integrity.