Courts

Court’s Group International Case Study by MW Interim Finance

Court’s Group International – Caribbean Division

Working with KPMG, administrators for Court’s Plc, to identify potential buyers, carry out due diligence through to the ultimate sale of the Caribbean subsidiaries as part of the divestment of Court’s on-going businesses.

The Solution

  • Operated as an interim group financial controller to support the Group HQ function in the UK, to monitor and control the financial reporting of the operations of the Caribbean country operating units.
  • Maintained the KPMG objective of maximising the net asset value of the overall regional business in eleven countries, (thirty retail sites).
  • An additional sub-assignment in situ for the Eastern Caribbean islands; reviewed and implemented additional locally based support to the regional managing director, and initiated the development of a regional finance function.
  • Carried out an Eastern Caribbean operating review across six islands and implemented systems to improve the purchasing supply chain, a single bonded warehouse for product distribution to mitigate duty and the phased introduction of VAT across the Eastern Caribbean.
  • Once a buyer had been identified, carried out due diligence activities locally and in the UK to ensure that the transaction would progress satisfactorily, including crystalising the net debt and cash position of the Caribbean division.

The Result

  • A South American buyer was identified and, via full due diligence exercise including post completion review, the Caribbean division net asset sale value was maximised at circa US$200m.

Skills Needed

  • international financial and management accounting, business development, systems, compliance and divestment due diligence
Courts International

Now subsumed within Regal Forest Holdings trading as Unicomer –  www.unicomer.com

Testimonial

Courts OECS Regional Director, Malcolm Burns, stated: “We were very happy with the job that Martin Walby performed for us and we continue to benefit from the strong foundation he laid for the development of the Courts OECS Finance and Accounts Department that is progressively evolving”.