Experience

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  urbanest UK

  • London, England, United Kingdom

  • Commercial Finance Leader

    • Sep 2022 - Present
    • London, England, United Kingdom

    A senior-level finance professional delivering board level insights and advice, this is a key commercially focussed position within this private equity owned Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) property company. The organisation consists of eight sites operating in prime zone 1 London locations with two additional pipeline schemes to be delivered over next five years. A portfolio valuation of over £1.6 billion and a turnover of £70 million. Managing the remit of investor and lender focussed reporting, alongside delivering commercial forward looking and value add insights to the board, involving business-wide input and multiple work stream delivery. A finance leader that has delivered on streamlined investor and lender reporting processes and embedding a reporting culture of stakeholder engagement and responsibility. Creating insightful and high impact reporting to key stakeholders, delivering time critical output to ensure business needs and requirements are met.Managing multiple stakeholders and projects, including delivery of strategic projects at the request of the board. Exceptional stakeholder management and relationship building skills support the approach to delivery of such key strategic projects. Presenting outputs and recommendations to the board and ensuring decision making is based on robust commercial and financial evidence and analysis.

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  Annington Property Ltd

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Financial Analysis Manager

    • Apr 2013 - Jul 2022
    • London, United Kingdom

    Holding a senior-level finance position in this private equity owned residential property company, consisting of over 40,000 units, a portfolio valuation of over £8 billion and a turnover of £200 million. Managing the remit of forward looking and value add analysis, involving business-wide input and multiple work stream delivery. A finance leader that delivered a new three financial statement corporate planning model. Engaging with the CFO and stakeholders to deliver an operational model that also includes debt covenant outputs, new budget reporting and a significant reduction in the overall planning cycle. This role provided vital support to company wide investment strategy, delivering investment analysis (NPV, IRR, ROCE) regarding the strategic decision for investing in the private rented sector. Providing robust investment and sensitivity analysis for proposed opportunities, which resulted in the acquisition of 380 units with a value of £125 million. Managing multiple stakeholders and projects, including acting as a finance lead following the appointment of a new external valuation company (CBRE). This was a key aspect of financial year end and delivered data to review debt covenants (LTV and ICR) for future potential financing. Alongside this, providing financial analysis for rent reviews, including scenario based analysis, in order to review forecast material rent increases over the next 5 years. The role involved extensive engagement with operational teams to prepare project analysis and departments to analyse project NPV and IRR. Continue to achieve success, including improving information flow at a board level that has encompassed increasing awareness of financial impacts, using scenario based analysis.

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  London 2012

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Financial Planning Analyst

    • Feb 2011 - Dec 2012
    • London, United Kingdom

    Chosen to complete a key role within this high-profile organisation during the exciting phase of hosting and staging the prestigious London Olympics and Paralympics, LOCOG delivered over £2 billion from the private sector to fund planning and delivery of the games. This role delivered insightful financial analysis and budget control for two functional areas: ticketing and client services.Played a pivotal role within the high-value ticketing function which made up one quarter of LOCOG’s entire revenue. Engaging with the Head of Ticketing to deliver forward looking financial analysis, which aided the decision making process. Achieved success within the ticketing function, including the creation of a robust financial model that forecasted ticket sales and revenue, as well as tracking revenue against budget. Managed ticketing revenue reporting and offered insight into ticketing data to government bodies, the CEO, CFO and Head of Ticketing.Provided vital business partner support and financial control with the client services team, in order to deliver the Olympic Hospitality Centre (OHC) – a budget neutral hospitality venue on the Olympic park. The main finance contact for this key hospitality venue, managing multiple finance tasks including pricing analysis, finance reporting and commentary and implementing robust financial controls. Successfully working with a diverse project team to ensure effective delivery of the project.

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  Superdrug

  • Commercial Analyst

    • Apr 2010 - Feb 2011

    Superdrug is a leading U.K. high street retailer, specialising in health and beauty. Part of the A.S.Watson Group, the company reported an annual turnover of over £1bn in 2009.This business partner role supported the commercial team and provided support and analysis to drive overall performance.

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  The Economist

  • Business Finance Analyst

    • Dec 2009 - Mar 2010

    The Economist Group publishes various weekly journals and provides intellectual services globally, it is a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs.This role provided financial planning, analysis and business support to the directors and managers of The Economist businesses for the Continental Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEMEA) region. The role supported the preparation of the monthly rolling forecast for the region, provision of ad-hoc analysis to senior management and support to the CEMEA finance team during the annual budget process.

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  Waterstones

  • Retail Operations Analyst

    • Sep 2009 - Dec 2009

    This role supported the Financial Planning team with the preparation of the re-forecast and the medium term plan (MTP). I also took on the responsibilities of the capital accountant following a team member leaving the company.

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  Waterstones

  • Planning Analyst

    • Sep 2004 - Oct 2008

    I covered two roles during this period. Firstly, responsibility for the financial management of various head office departments, providing month end support and detailed analysis on a weekly and monthly basis to the commercial team.Secondly, joining the Financial Planning team in order to drive the business planning cycle and provide detailed analysis and KPI reporting to assist in this process.