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Armstrong Transaction Services provides Commercial Due Diligence for the UK private equity mid-market. Our clients are typically mid market Private Equity houses, debt providers and acquisitive businesses. Enterprise values of deals we support are generally in the range £5m - £150m. Our aim is to support our clients in making successful acquisitions, operational improvements and profitable exits. We are driven by commercial inquisitiveness, building close long term relationships and a passion for unearthing underlying performance and opportunity.
The Armstrong difference
Armstrong is founded on independence, integrity and clear commercial advice.
Armstrong do
- Clearly and unequivocally state our insights and conclusions
- Quantify the impact of these insights on the business plan and valuation
- Build close relationships with all parties – clients, management teams and other advisors – to provide advice that will be useful beyond the timeframe of the transaction
- Identify the available exit options and make operational recommendations to maximise returns
- Let you work with a senior director, always
Armstrong don’t
- Draw unclear conclusions and shroud them in caveats or pages of disclaimers
- Provide partial vendor due diligence – commercial challenge and impartiality is retained whomever the client
- Push-sell clients follow on consulting services
- Worry about conflicting agendas with our corporate finance, accounting or strategy divisions – we don’t have any
About Us\History
History
Armstrong was founded to deliver investors and management teams alike with refreshingly conclusive Commercial Due Diligence based on deep understanding of a business and its marketplace. Having successfully built one Commercial Due Diligence practice from scratch the core team of Robin Illingworth, Francis Prosser and Tom Raymond created Armstrong as a new type of business that embodies our values as well as delivering good work. As owner-managers, we understand that the business lives or dies by our credibility. We aim to be the Commercial Due Diligence provider of choice for mid market private equity transactions in the UK.
About Us\The Team
The team has cumulative experience of over 400 deals and 4 decades’ experience in providing Commercial Due Diligence into the UK mid-market.
Robin Illingworth
Robin leads the business services, construction & building and manufacturing teams.Robin worked for many years in finance and business around the world before moving into the M&A market. Armstrong is the second Commercial Due Diligence practice Robin has led and he has now personally overseen and conducted reviews for over 150 transactions. Previously he worked for Inchcape and then Coca Cola in South America, specialising in strategic development and mergers & acquisitions. Robin has a degree in banking and international finance from the City University Business School and an MBA from Manchester Business School.
Francis Prosser
Francis leads the consumer goods and retail & distribution teams. Francis is a specialist in manufacturing and sales operations, with both industry and consulting experience. Previously, he worked as a consultancy project manager, where he specialised in operational strategy development and implementation, and as Managing Director of an electronics manufacturing business. He also has experience of new business start-ups, including marketing services and telecoms software. Francis is a graduate of the European Business School, where he majored in marketing, and has lived and worked in France and Germany.
Tom Raymond
Tom leads the healthcare, IT, and leisure & property teams. Tom built the transaction services of PMSI Consulting with Robin and worked on many corporate strategy and turnaround assignments. Previously he worked for Mars on their fast track management development programme in supply, manufacturing and market-side roles. Prior to this he was at Unilever and Marks & Spencer in buying and production support positions. Tom has a first class honours science degree from Reading University.
Edward Hikmet
Edward has a range of experience in Commercial Due Diligence and strategy consulting across a number of sectors and transactions including TMT, consumer goods, business services and manufacturing. Previously Edward worked in the M&A Strategy team at Deloitte, Robson Rhodes and Theron, and worked in business development at a startup telecoms company based in Germany. Edward has an MA and MEng in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University.
Lui Yeung
Lui is a strategy specialist with transaction and strategic development experience in the Telecoms and IT, consumer goods and retail sectors. She started her career as a telecommunications consultant with Vodafone, Panasonic and telecoms consultancy, Teligen. Lui is a European Business Management graduate from the University of Wales, Swansea.
About Us\Work With Us
We are always open to approaches from energetic, dedicated individuals who are motivated by delivering great work as part of a high performing team.
Opportunities
Armstrong is looking for individuals who will fit into a small team who work closely together. In addition to the challenges of the individual role, this is an opportunity to experience a business in its early and most exciting phase of development.
If you want the structure and security of a major corporation, this may not be for you. To work in a young and fast growing business, you will need to be highly independent, proactive, resourceful and have an appetite for the entrepreneurial side of business. The right candidate will be a mature individual with the confidence to make decisions and use their own initiative.
At Armstrong, in addition to your primary role, you will be expected to contribute to client management and business development. This is irrespective of your position and will provide an opportunity to boost your learning and remuneration considerably.
General candidate profile:
Strong analytical ability and logical thinking skills, with a good memory.
Commercial understanding – the ability to know in your gut what will work and what will not.
Project management – an essential part of managing both your own and your team’s workload.
Client facing skills – excellent presentation, interpersonal skills and client focus.
Inquisitiveness – the healthy scepticism that takes nothing at face value and always asks ‘why?’
People skills – the ability to talk to a type fitter one minute and a CEO the next.
Experience – we are looking for people who are different to us. We are equally interested in graduate consultants and seasoned operational managers looking for a change of direction
Things you should know:
We set very high standards for ourselves and the strength of our customer relationships is of critical importance. We don’t cut corners and if it’s not consistent with our integrity, we won’t do it.
We don’t do bureaucracy. We don’t have fancy job titles, we don’t work 9 to 5, …and we don’t have to put up with office politics (we’d like to keep it that way).
We don’t believe in limiting achievement. We only do things that are of value to our clients, our business and ourselves. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out.
Finally…we’d like to think that this is more than a job you endure until you retire. We enjoy our work, believe in doing our best and being well rewarded for it.
Experience\Sector Experience
Our approach to Commercial Due Diligence has proven itself across a broad range of sectors. We regularly work in industries for the first time and many of our clients call us where no specialist exists. In 2007 alone we have supported transactions in markets as diverse as medical software development and toy retailing.
Having supported over 400 deals over the past decade we have built up significant expertise, networks and experience in the following sectors:
Business Services
Alternative energy production, conferencing services, courier services, defence logistics, educational equipment, environmental consulting and services, equipment hire, express freight & logistics, facilities management, labour outsourcing, manned security, money broking, overnight delivery, recruitment advertising, recruitment agency, specialist insurance, training provision, vehicle hire, warehousing cold storage
Construction & Building
Air conditioning equipment, brick & block manufacture, commercial boilers, building systems maintenance, electrical safety equipment and services, heating equipment, industrial fans, nuclear systems integration, plumbing & drainage manufacture, retail warehouse interiors, social housing infrastructure development and maintenance.
Consumer Goods
Alcoholic drinks, ceramic tiles, domestic boilers, furniture manufacture, kitchen appliances, school and college operation, seeds & young plants, student accommodation services, white goods, wines & spirits
Healthcare
Domiciliary care equipment, domiciliary care services, imaging equipment maintenance and service, medical consumables wholesale, medical equipment wholesale, nuclear medical equipment, prescription software, urgent care management software
IT
Accounting software, data centres, genomics software, hardware and software reselling, managed services, network & communications infrastructure, prescription software, security provision and managed services
Leisure & Property
Angling centres, holiday parks, leisure clubs, members clubs, pubs, nightclubs, tour operation
Manufacturing
Aerospace safety equipment, air conditioning equipment, aircraft interiors, building materials, commercial boilers, emergency warning equipment, flooring products, general purpose safety equipment, heating equipment, industrial fans, industrial pumps, industrial rubber products, lighting & signage, mass spectrometry, speedguns & cameras, retail safety equipment
Retail & Wholesale
Retail; books, computer equipment, fancy goods, garden centres, jewellery, mail order stationery, tiles, children’s toys
Wholesale; furniture, office equipment, seeds and plants
Experience\Post-Deal Support
Management teams whose deals we have supported often ask us to continue to support them as they develop their businesses.
Armstrong’s core skills of market research, consumer interviewing and strategic commercial analysis are also in demand in everyday business environments.
We typically provide support for:
- Bolt-on acquisitions
- Customer surveys
- New product\service evaluation
- Geographical expansion
- Business plan development
- Invest\hold\divest decisions
- Turnaround support
We guarantee you an honest opinion on whether we are the right people to help you.
Contact Us
Robin Illingworth leads the business services, construction & building and manufacturing teams
Tom Raymond leads the healthcare, IT, and leisure & property teams
Francis Prosser leads the consumer goods and retail & distribution teams
t +44 (0)20 7661 9324
f +44 (0)20 7661 9400
Armstrong Transaction Services
33 St James's Square
London
SW1Y 4JS