Avoid storm clouds – Why cashflow is key

Why cash flow is THE most important issue facing SMEs and UK PLC.

If the sudden collapse of Fly BMI on the weekend ignited my curiosity on this subject, the disturbing news today of JLR’s £4bn losses fanned the flames. Cash flow. The lifeblood of all business.

Whether an SME business or an iconic British brand, begs the question, “Why isn’t cash flow at the front and centre of every company’s and government’s business strategy?”

Tata’s executive board deserve to hang their heads in shame pillaging increasing dividends when their cash cow needed strong cash flow metrics and tighter corporate governance.

The lessons from BMI and JLR are obvious, brutal examples of what happens when a decent business, with great branding, lacks cash flow B- plans. I’m going to be controversial now, bare with me.

Fly Bmi didn’t go to the wall because of Brexit. It sank because they didn’t have a plan B for their cash flow, losing their talented team & hardworking staff.

Let’s hope JLR, their owners & Directors can craft better cash controls or UK PLC will lose another, much larger iconic brand forever and with it hundreds of supply chain businesses & jobs. A great credit controller and accounts team have never been so important.

Written by Mary Maguire

Astute Recruitment Ltd

First published on LinkedIn

Have you heard about our Triple-Point Guarantee? Article featured in AGENDA magazine’s Autumn Edition 2018

Astute Recruitment in Queen Street is re-inventing the way recruiters are seen with a unique ‘Triple Point Guarantee’, which offers clients £500 in cash should their vacancy not be filled in time.

The service is being offered to companies with a permanent role available which choose Astute as their sole recruiter for an agreed time period and is the first policy of its kind to be offered by a recruiter anywhere in the UK.

Mary Maguire, MD of Astute Recruitment said: “We really want to set ourselves apart from our competitors and demonstrate our commitment to offering value and high standards of service.”

“We work across the East Midlands with a great number of SME’s locally, so anything we can do to support our clients and make a real difference to their business, we will embrace and the Triple Point Guarantee is exactly that.”

“As well as the £500 payment, we also offer free replacements and pro-rata fee rebates if a candidate leaves the role in the first eight weeks of placement.”

“We pride ourselves on being able to place the right people in the right roles – this policy demonstrates how confident we are in this and gives clients peace of mind.”

Astute has worked to secure more than 1500 jobs for local businesses and is continuing to go from strength to strength, hiring three new consultants in the last six months and launching a highly successful commercial division.

As featured in TheBusinessDesk.com, their Midlands Leadership Awards have been created to celebrate the people and organisations across the entire region who are role models for their teams and who have continuously raised the bar for their competitors.

Those shortlisted have showcased the very best qualities of modern leadership – of inspiration, collaboration and empowerment. The winners will be announced at an exclusive awards lunch on Thursday 15th November 2018. The day will be a celebration of the transformational impact great business leaders are having in our Midlands Region across Finance, Professional Services, Accountancy, Manufacturing, Service and all other industry sectors.

The Leadership awards offer a great opportunity to recognise and shine a light on the achievements and successes of businesses in the region. Sarah’s inclusion as a finalist for these prestigious awards follows on her successful recognition as Entrepreneur Of The Year, awarded by the Derbyshire Times, Small SME Director Of The Year East Midlands, awarded by The Institute of Directors and Finalist of The East Midlands Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year. The Midlands Leadership Awards also serve to recognise the fantastic work Sarah’s team here at Astute Recruitment Ltd have achieved in becoming the go-to accountancy and office recruitment specialist in the East Midlands. Our unique Triple-Point Guarantee and other innovations will reach a wider audience and we hope inspire other innovations in excellence across the recruitment sector.

Fingers crossed for Sarah and all the other Finalists below!

Leader of the year – This person will be selected from the other award winners and will be the person or organisation that embodies outstanding leadership and is an exemplar for the whole Midlands Region.

The finalists for the 2018 Leadership awards are: –

Professional services

David Richardson, Lloyds Banking Group
Nick Green, Squire Patton Boggs
Sarah Perry, Wright Hassall
Sarah Stevenson, Astute Recruitment
Steve Allen, Mills & Reeve

Best leadership programme

Birmingham LGBT
Meridian / Common Purpose
Plink Fizz
Streetwise MBA / Common Purpose

Empowering Potential

Anthony Burns, Paycare
Anthony Ratchford, Intec Microsystems
Lee Southen, Grayling
Sallie-Ann Allen, Enploy
Simon McAlpine, Infinity IT Solutions

Diversity and inclusion leader

Carmen Watson, Pertemps
Claire Bell, West Midlands Police
Hilary Smyth-Allen, BPS Birmingham
Prof Kiran Trehan, University of Birmingham
Yetunde Dania, Trowers & Hamlins

Public and third sector

Mike Hopkins, South and City College Birmingham
Paul Kalinauckas, BCRS Business Loans Limited
Tom Clarke-Forrest, Sport 4 Life UK
Dr Yeow Poon, Chinese Community Centre

Transformational leader

Greg Reed, HomeServe Membership
Matt Jones, Oxbridge Home Learning
Mike Hopkins, South and City College Birmingham
Pauline Biddle, Deloitte
Phil Mead, NEC Group Arenas

Company leader (up to 100 employees)
Jonathan Evans, Discovery
Keir Edmonds, MCS
Kevin Rogers, Paycare
Mike Brooman, Vanti
Scott Parsons, Forsyth Barnes

Company leader (100+ employees)

Craig Dickson, DAC Beachcroft
Greg Reed, HomeServe Membership
James Rigby, SCC
Shahid Sheikh OBE, Clifton Packaging Group

Clive Mason/Getty Images
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won last year’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix

The team at Astute have worked so hard in the last twelve months, so Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire are delighted to take Astute’s team down to Silverstone and hopefully see Lewis Hamilton work towards securing Pole Position for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Photos of the day to follow next week!

“Reward success in your team and your team will reward you with success”

Astute Recruitment Sports Day

Astute Recruitment has teamed up with local charity Treetops Hospice for a ‘school sports day’ event later this month (19 July) to raise vital funds for the hospices’ work.

Treetops Hospice provides support and care for patients and families living with life limited illness or affected by death, through its day care centre and hospice at home services. The organisation currently relies on donations to make up two thirds of its funding.

Andy Lilliman, senior consultant at Astute Recruitment said: “We’re delighted to be raising money for a local organisation which is close to our hearts – many of the team at Astute have friends and family that have been supported by Treetops, and so we’re looking forward to giving back.”

The event will be held at Treetops Hospice grounds and will feature a variety of classic sports day events, including an egg and spoon race, sack race and a 100m sprint. Local businesses are invited to join in for a small sign-up fee.

“We’re hoping to raise £500 through team sign ups and the sale of raffle tickets.

“Hopefully we’ll get some sunshine and it will be a good excuse to get outside, have some fun and relax whilst helping a great cause. We hope to see as many local businesses as possible sign up a team.”

Laura Corden, corporate partnerships founder at Treetops Hospice said: “We are delighted to have Astute Recruitment host its Corporate Sports Day here in the lovely gardens of Treetops Hospice Care. It is a pleasure to welcome the company, along with other local businesses to take part in what is set to be a fun filled and competitive evening.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for organisations to find out more about the services Treetops offer and to take a look around our facilities. We are hoping to raise awareness of our Compassionate Communities Project whereby we aim to engage businesses to become more aware of the impact life limiting illnesses may have on employees and their families.

Corporate support is incredibly important to Treetops and without the generosity of local businesses we would not be able to continue to deliver the services we do. We are excited to meet everyone at the event and wish the event every success.”

To sign up for the event, visit https://www.treetopshospice.org.uk/events/astutesportsday/. Or please call Andy Lilliman or MD Mary Maguire at Astute Recruitment on 01332 346 100.

Mary Maguire one of Derby Telegraph’s 250 most influential business people

It was brilliant to see our very own Mary Maguire recognised as one of the 250 most influential business people by the Derby Telegraph. To be in the company of so many established and up and coming business peers is a real priviledge and an honour for Mary and we are all really proud of her.

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Mike

16:04 13 Mar 23

Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.

C R.

10:45 27 Jan 23

Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊

Christine

10:32 20 Dec 22

Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!

Helen Pinegar

16:19 18 Dec 22

Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!

Lisa Leigh

11:56 30 Nov 22

I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.