Who We Are: Chris Backhouse

Chris qualified in 1981 with KPMG and worked in the accountancy profession for ten years, latterly with Ernst & Young, providing advice to fast-growing entrepreneurial clients from a variety of industries and ranging in size from start-ups to subsidiaries of large overseas operations.

In 1991 Chris became FD of a listed aerospace and defence products group, serving clients such as Boeing and BAe, where he helped develop their strategic plan and profit improvement initiatives, before a successful privatisation in 1997.

He then joined the UK subsidiary of a Swiss healthcare company, restructuring and turning it around from losses of over £2m pa, before its sale to a competitor, moving on to join the MBO team that acquired a former FMCG packaging division of Courtaulds. Operating in eight countries, his Group FD role included responsibility for the start-up and funding of businesses worldwide, including China, Poland, Russia, India, Brazil and the USA.

Chris joined FD Solutions after working as an independent financial adviser, during which time he was the FD of two £10m-plus successful UK-based venture capital-backed management buy-outs of industrial services businesses.

Chris acted as FD, assisting with the business planning, finance raising and implementation of post-acquisition plans.

Consequently, as well as working across many business sectors, Chris has experience of corporate finance matters, including smaller business acquisitions and disposals, strategic and business planning, VC-backed transactions and AIM flotations, and experience of doing business in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas. Rather than concentrate on a particular sector, Chris applies expertise in these areas to entrepreneurial businesses ranging in size from start-up to around £100m turnover.

Since joining FD Solutions, assignments on which Chris has worked include:

• Assisting a media entertainments services business with financial reporting to its new German public-company parent and leading the preparation of their budget and three-year forecast.
• Developing a business plan for a City financial services business, preparing financial projections and contributing to the evolution of management’s strategy and expansion plans.
• Leading a two-man team, revising the accounts of an £8m turnover VC-backed technology group, implementing cashflow forecasting, preparing financial projections and negotiating new covenants with their bankers. Finally, assisting with the negotiation and sale of the business.