November 2022 - The IFT

IFT Announces Award Winners

We are proud to announce this year’s winners of our prestigious Annual Awards, celebrating turnaround excellence across a range of companies and sectors.

The IFT Annual Awards, the most prestigious awards to celebrate business turnaround and the UK’s world class turnaround experts, recognises individuals and companies who have made an extraordinary contribution to UK plc and the turnaround profession.

The winners are as follows:

Large Company Turnaround of the Year – SIG Plc, the building supplies distributor, which has returned to robust profitability ahead of schedule, thanks to a transformation that got into the nuts and bolts of the business and in which leadership and employee engagement played a major role.

Mid-market Turnaround of the Year – Archant, the UK’s fourth largest media company. Thanks to a pioneering transformation plan, the key regional press player is on a path to growth.

SME Turnaround of the Year – Camvac Ltd. This manufacturing business specialising in metallising and lamination was an excellent example of a full business turnaround executed in an active manufacturing environment.

Community Impact Turnaround of the Year – Hovertravel picked up this award. Hovertravel provides a critical infrastructure link to access the Isle of Wight and is a company essential to the every-day lives of a community. Thanks to creative actions taken, the financial performance post-recovery now outperforms the pre-distress period.

In the firm categories:

Gateley Legal PLC picked up Legal Adviser of the Year, showing real commitment to championing new tools to provide new options for clients as well as promoting diversity across their workforce.

PwC showcased a variety of case studies that demonstrated true innovation in solutions and an exceptionally strong client focus to win in the category of Turnaround Adviser of the Year.

Rcapital demonstrated consistent activity and commitment in the turnaround community, as evidenced by their effectiveness across a breadth of businesses, making the investor Special Situations Private Equity Provider of the Year.

Investment and Advisory Firm Hilco Capital demonstrated a host of positive outcomes as well as taking a hands-on approach to their work, scooping up the award for Special Situations Debt Provider of the Year.

Bringing together leading independent turnaround directors and the best lenders, investors, advisory and legal firms in turnaround, we are always delighted to celebrate the successes of individuals. With this in mind, our Independent Turnaround Adviser of the Year goes to Nick Alexander.

In the words of our judges, Nick is ‘a standout turnaround director’ – noted for the significant value creation and jobs he has secured in exceptionally challenging circumstances.

Finally, our Rising Star Award went to Peter Brown from FTI Consulting, who demonstrated the impact that the turnaround skillset can bring to wider society and stakeholders, as well as excellence in high profile cases.

 

IFT Annual Awards 2022

The IFT Annual Awards are back and we are delighted to be celebrating the very best of business turnaround and transformation at Rosewood London on 24th November 2022.

This is an opportunity to celebrate the contribution made by the UK’s turnaround community and to catch up with peers, colleagues and clients in the beautiful surroundings of the Rosewood London Hotel. Submissions are welcomed from individuals, firms and businesses.

To buy an individual ticket or a table for the Awards dinner, please contact info@the-ift.com. (All prices are inclusive of VAT)

Member – £420

Fellow – £320

Non-Member – £480

Corporate Table – £3840

Regional Table – £3840

Fellows Table – £3200

Submissions and Categories:

In a change to previous years we are now asking you to fill out an online form to make your submissions. This years categories are as follows:

An individual or firm:

  • Turnaround Adviser
  • Independent Turnaround Adviser
  • Rising Star
  • Legal Adviser
  • Special Situations Debt Provider
  • Special Situations Private Equity Provider

Pleases click HERE when you are ready to fill your submission form for an individual or firm.

A company or organisation:

  • SME Turnaround
  • Mid-Market Turnaround
  • Large Company Turnaround
  • Not for Profit Turnaround
  • Community Impact Turnaround

Pleases click HERE when you are ready to fill your submission form for a company or organisation.

 

Submissions are open from 30th June until 5pm on Friday 19th August. Please ensure you read these guidelines before filling our your submission – IFT Awards 2022 Guidelines. 

 

This year our Awards Dinner is kindly supported by

 

IFT West & Wales Autumn Members Meeting: Post pandemic – Operational Turnaround

5pm – 7.30pm

Our Spring 2022 Members meeting hosted by Teneo focused on financial turnaround, so it’s pleasingly symmetrical that our Autumn 2022 Members meeting will also be hosted by Teneo, focusing on operational turnaround.

As businesses across all sectors are having to re-evaluate and re-align their business models to a post pandemic environment – an understanding of operational ACTIONS and PRIORITIES will be essential. IfT Independent Member, Richard Close, will share his rich experiences of operational turnaround through two highly charged and interactive case studies – just what would you do in the circumstances? Tips for how we can all help frame management’s thinking will be in abundance.

 

The programme for the evening is:

5.00pm Gather with coffee

5.30pm Formal presentation and Q&A

6.45pm Drinks

7.30pm Evening closes

 

Dress code: suits or business casual.

 

We’ll look forward to seeing as many of you as possible – please let us know at earliest your availability and thanks to Teneo for hosting.

WEBINAR – INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP – WITH T-THREE

08:00 – 09:00

In this session, Kate Forrest from t-three joins us again alongside Kelly Jones of Kingsgate and the IFT Women’s Network Lead and Lucy Corner of Cornerstone Care Solutions.

This session will explore the traits of inclusive leadership and the benefits (immediate and longer term) to the team and the organisation within a turnaround environment. We will hear real life examples from the speakers for a stimulating discussion.

JOINT MIDLANDS IFT & R3 EVENT

We’re pleased to invite you to a joint IFT and R3 event in Birmingham on 8th November, from 17:45-20:00.

Restructuring Issues

As the Midlands emerges from the pandemic and faces the headwinds of inflation and repayment of support, there are considerable challenges facing stakeholders and advisors over the coming years. A panel of TE’s, funders, lawyers and IP’s will undertake an interactive discussion around the key issues facing the community including;

Restructuring skillsets that may be required, how restructuring and Insolvency may interact, diversity and inclusion and changes to regulation and risk.

The panel includes:

  • Eddie Williams – PwC
  • Kelly Jones – Kingsgate
  • David Bates – Lloyds Bank
  • Dan Hurd – EY
  • Amy Flavell – Pinsent Masons

 

HMRC as Stakeholder

The position of HMRC as a key stakeholder in middle market restructurings is likely to become increasingly important over the coming period in areas around Time to Pay, HMRC Winding Up Petitions and approach. We will be joined by tax specialists who will provide up to date views on HMRC’s position in restructurings and how they may impact on any future restructuring strategies.

This will be a discussion with a Caroline Sumner of R3 and Jim Morrison of HMRC

 

The programme for the evening will be:

5:45pm – Coffee/Networking

6:10pm – Presentations

7.00pm – Networking over food & drinks

We look forward to seeing a great mix of Independent and Corporate members from both the IFT and R3 on the night.

Places are limited and open to IFT and R3 members only. Please email info@the-ift.com to register your interest.

 

Swift – Conference Edition

In the latest special conference edition of Swift, The IFT’s quarterly magazine, you can read about our upcoming IFT events, including the IFT Awards, the IFT news and articles written by members and corporate partners.

To read the latest edition, please click HERE