The Costumer:
Hauser positions itself as a partner for individual fresh food solutions and plans, produces and supplies turnkey refrigeration systems for international customers in the food retail, commercial and industrial sectors.
The Hauser Group, based in Linz and its production company in the Czech Republic, has sales subsidiaries and branches in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland and France. With around 1,300 employees, the group generated sales of € 390 million (FY 2022/2023).
The Task:
Management Factory was commissioned to fill the CFO function on an interim basis from August 2022 to December 2023 in order to bridge a vacancy and stabilize the finance and accounting department following some employee departures.
- Participation in the steering committee of a large, company-wide digital project including SAP implementation;
- Taking over all bank communication and financing agendas as well as securing external financing;
- Reduction of working capital (mainly inventories) in order to significantly reduce short-term debt financing. During the mandate, inventories were reduced by around € 51 million / 43%, making a significant contribution to internal financing and subsequently avoiding write-downs;
- Cost-saving measures were defined and implemented in order to improve earnings and profitability within the Group;
- The organizational structure as well as the staffing of the finance department has been improved.
Highlights:
- Vacancy bridging
- Digital project
- Working capital reduced by 43 percent
- Stabilization and reorganization of the finance and accounting department