Turnaround & restructuring
Turnaround & restructuring
A turnaround is a different job with a different clock. Cash is the constraint, time is short. Stabilise the cash position first, reset the plan, then return the business to a defensible footing.
In short
Turnaround and restructuring led by a former turnaround CEO: stabilise cash first, diagnose the real causes, reset the cost base and operating model, then return to growth. Fast, hands-on, and honest about whether the business is recoverable.
What a turnaround actually involves
A real turnaround runs in phases, and the order matters. Trying to grow before the cash is stable is how distressed businesses fail twice.
Get control of cash. Understand the true position, secure liquidity, stop the bleeding and buy the time the rest of the plan needs.
With breathing room, find the real causes rather than the symptoms. Distressed businesses usually have two or three structural problems doing most of the damage.
Restructure the cost base, the organisation and the operating model so the business is viable at its real level of demand.
Once stable and viable, rebuild a focused plan to grow from a defensible position rather than an overextended one.
Restructuring, crisis management and turnaround
Crisis management is the acute phase when time and cash are critically short and the priority is control. Restructuring is the structural work on cost base, organisation and operations that restores viability. Turnaround is the full arc from distress back to growth. Action Is Now covers all three, led by one operator, so the work stays joined up rather than handed between advisers.
The warning signs that it is time to act
Most turnarounds are called too late. The signals are usually visible earlier than owners admit.
- Cash is consistently tighter than the profit-and-loss suggests it should be.
- The same plan keeps being re-presented because the previous one did not deliver.
- Suppliers are being paid later, and conversations with the bank are getting harder.
- Good people are leaving, and the ones who remain are firefighting rather than building.
- Leadership is busy and exhausted but cannot say which two problems matter most.
Stakeholders, banks and the human side
A turnaround is rarely lost on the numbers alone. It is lost when stakeholders lose confidence faster than the plan can restore it. Part of the work is keeping banks, investors, suppliers and key employees informed and credible. An outside operator can carry difficult conversations that an owner, too close and too invested, often cannot.
Related services
Frequently asked questions
What does a turnaround consultant do?
Stabilises a distressed business, diagnoses the real causes, restructures the cost base and operating model, and rebuilds a plan to return to viability and growth.
What is the difference between turnaround and restructuring?
Restructuring is the structural work that restores viability. Turnaround is the full process from distress back to growth, of which restructuring is one phase.
How quickly does a turnaround need to start?
As fast as possible. In distress, delay compounds and narrows the options, so diagnosis and stabilisation should begin within days.
Can every distressed business be saved?
No, and an honest operator says so early. Part of the work is an unsentimental view of whether the business is recoverable and on what terms.
Tell us the problem and the deadline
If we can help, you will know within a day. No excuses, just results.