Enhance C-Suite

Overview

A privately-owned media company with ~$35 million in revenue faced multiple challenges when both the CFO and controller resigned in the same week, bringing awareness to the internal gaps of knowledge transfer and lack of SOPs. The company was without a budget or financial reporting package, operated on a decade-old Great Plains system with entirely manual processes, and had just refinanced ~$10 million in debt based on EBITDA projections that were off by $2 million.

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When Enhance arrived, the company was losing $2 million annually in non-political years and broke its new bank covenants just two months into the engagement. Enhance immediately stabilized the accounting team, created the company's first budget and three-year financial model, renegotiated bank covenants, and executed a strategic cost-reduction plan that eliminated $4 million from the cost structure over four years. The positive transformation included establishing an advisory board, professionalizing the family office's portfolio of investments, and coaching the company's leadership team in financial discipline and strategic thinking.

Approach

Enhance implemented a comprehensive turnaround strategy, starting with financial stabilization and progressing to long-term organizational transformation.

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Key deliverables included:

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Created the company's first formal budget within three weeks and developed a three-year financial model to renegotiate bank covenants and prevent loan default

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Executed a drastic cost-reduction plan that cut $2 million from the cost structure in year one through efficiency improvements and a 30% headcount reduction

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Implemented monthly financial reporting packages and established regular financial reviews, introducing accountability and transparency for the first time

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Established an advisory board in year two to bring strategic expertise in operations, product development, and marketing

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Cleaned up and professionalized the associated family office's three investment properties, correcting undercharged CAMs and significantly increasing profitability

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Coordinated Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges when two properties sold and managed bank covenant reporting across all family entities

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Established IT governance structure and initiated change management process to implement Odoo ERP system after years of operating on outdated Great Plains software

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Coached the COO and department leaders in financial discipline, strategic thinking, and leadership development

Outcome

"We knew we needed a team of experts to build a roadmap to move forward, Enhance did just that and we achieved our goals together."

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- COO

The engagement delivered a complete organizational turnaround, transforming the company into a stable, profitable operation. Over four years, Enhance cut a total of $4 million from the cost structure, enabling the company to achieve $1.5 million EBITDA in non-political years and $5-6 million in political years.

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The bank covenant risks were successfully resolved, with the lending bank remaining satisfied throughout the engagement. The company maintained operations despite the challenging media industry facing significant disruption. By implementing professional financial management and strategic governance, Enhance enabled the owners to preserve their legacy business.

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The transformation extended beyond the media company to the entire family office, where enhanced financial controls and professional real-estate management increased the profitability of their investments and ensured compliance across all entities.

Case Study

Privately-Owned Media Company Turnaround

Cutting $4M in costs and restoring profitability after a bank covenant breach helped a privately-owned media company move away from an uncertain future.