Thomas B. Simmons

Thomas B. Simmons
Group Finance Director, Company Secretary, Executive Director
Mama Group plc

Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clientsORCHARD GROWTH PARTNERS | Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clients
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Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clients 13 Jul 2006

Speaking at the Orchard Growth Partners conference earlier today, SME guru Tom Simmons talked about the challenges and opportunities for part-time Finance Directors working with SME clients.

As such clients are often dominated by family and/or founders, a part-time heavyweight FD has a great opportunity to question pre-conceptions and the status quo which often arise in such companies.He gave the example of working as FD with a family-owned sherry company in the late 1970's.The company had always been profitable and the management was second generation family.

In Tom's experience the first generation of a family business builds a business up through hard graft but often the second generation fails to drive the business forward perhaps through not having the same "hunger" to succeed as their parents.The company's directors would routinely sit down to a glass of sherry (their own obviously!) at lunchtime and would return to work in the middle of the afternoon.

"They failed to notice the market environment shifting.Consumer habits were changing rapidly away from sherry and the supermarkets were beginning to occupy the position between brands and consumers weakening brand owners power" said Tom.

The challenge for outsiders in the company was to get the family directors to notice the dangers to their business, which they failed to do.The learning point for part-time FDs is that adding value for clients usually requires the client to accept the need to change but that the FD can facilitate acceptance by having good forecasting processes and disciplines in place which will highlight such issues.

Tom is a Chartered Accountant who has spent most of his career in the profession advising mid-market companies on IPO's, acquisitions and their development.As a result of mergers he found himself a partner of Arthur Andersen until retiring from the firm in 2002 (before the firm's demise).From 2002 to 2004 Tom was part time finance director of Benjys Group Holdings Limited.He is now the part time finance director of MAMA Group plc, listed on AIM, which has a group of companies operating in the music and media industries.
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Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clients

Name: Thomas Simmons

Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clients 13 Jul 2006

Speaking at the Orchard Growth Partners conference earlier today, SME guru Tom Simmons talked about the challenges and opportunities for part-time Finance Directors working with SME clients.

As such clients are often dominated by family and/or founders, a part-time heavyweight FD has a great opportunity to question pre-conceptions and the status quo which often arise in such companies.He gave the example of working as FD with a family-owned sherry company in the late 1970's.The company had always been profitable and the management was second generation family.

In Tom's experience the first generation of a family business builds a business up through hard graft but often the second generation fails to drive the business forward perhaps through not having the same "hunger" to succeed as their parents.The company's directors would routinely sit down to a glass of sherry (their own obviously!) at lunchtime and would return to work in the middle of the afternoon.

"They failed to notice the market environment shifting.Consumer habits were changing rapidly away from sherry and the supermarkets were beginning to occupy the position between brands and consumers weakening brand owners power" said Tom.

The challenge for outsiders in the company was to get the family directors to notice the dangers to their business, which they failed to do.The learning point for part-time FDs is that adding value for clients usually requires the client to accept the need to change but that the FD can facilitate acceptance by having good forecasting processes and disciplines in place which will highlight such issues.

Tom is a Chartered Accountant who has spent most of his career in the profession advising mid-market companies on IPO's, acquisitions and their development.As a result of mergers he found himself a partner of Arthur Andersen until retiring from the firm in 2002 (before the firm's demise).From 2002 to 2004 Tom was part time finance director of Benjys Group Holdings Limited.He is now the part time finance director of MAMA Group plc, listed on AIM, which has a group of companies operating in the music and media industries.
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Tom Simmons speaks about working with SME clients