The Situation
A two-entity group supplying linen, facilities, and consumables to the hospitality sector across the UK and Europe entered 2020 in an already difficult position — carrying losses of approximately £2m and navigating a refinancing process that needed to be managed carefully whilst the business remained operational.
Then COVID-19 hit.
For a business whose revenues were directly tied to hotel and hospitality activity, the impact was immediate and severe. Occupancy collapsed across its customer base virtually overnight, and with a new funder in the process of being brought on board, the group needed to present a credible, sector-aware financial picture at precisely the moment when the future of the entire hospitality industry was uncertain.
The management team were capable and committed, but they needed external financial expertise — both to navigate the refinancing and to build the kind of robust, integrated forecasting that would give a new lender the confidence to proceed.
The Engagement
We were appointed to support the group through the funding transition and to provide the financial modelling and forecasting infrastructure the refinancing demanded.
The centrepiece of the work was the construction of an integrated financial model — consolidating both entities into a single view, incorporating sector-specific COVID-19 scenario assumptions, and producing the rolling cash flow forecasts that the incoming lender required. Given the unprecedented uncertainty around hospitality trading at the time, particular care was taken to model a range of recovery scenarios and stress-test the group's resilience under each.
We managed the financial workstream of the refinancing process throughout — ensuring that the new funder received consistent, credible reporting and that the business was presented in the strongest possible light despite the extraordinarily difficult trading backdrop.
With the refinancing successfully completed, we remained engaged at executive level — providing ongoing structure and guidance to monthly board meetings, supporting management decision-making, and helping to build the financial discipline and reporting rigour that a turnaround required.
The Outcome
The results speak for themselves. The same management team that was presiding over a ~£2m loss in 2019/20 delivered a £0.6m profit in 2022/23 — a swing of approximately £2.6m, achieved through a combination of operational focus, financial discipline, and a clear strategic direction maintained consistently through one of the most disruptive periods the hospitality sector has ever seen.
The engagement remains ongoing. Nearly five years on from the initial appointment, we continue to support the business at executive level — a relationship that reflects both the scale of the journey travelled and the value of having the right financial partnership in place for the long term.