Growth · Transformation · Exit
Dialogue Group
- Enterprise value£2m ▸ £32m
- Revenue£13m ▸ £60m
- EBITDA£0.3m ▸ £6m
CFO then Global CEO. Repositioned, scaled and ultimately sold the international communications business.
Value creation · Transformation · Turnaround
When a business should be worth more than it is.
Perry Offer is a CEO and CFO operator who has spent four decades inside businesses at moments when performance had to change.
He works across commercial, operational and financial performance to identify what is suppressing value, translate strategy into measurable operating requirements, and deliver the change from inside the business.
COO
Interim CEO
Chief Transformation Officer
Transformation CFO
Evidence
Different situations. The same operating discipline. The same result.
Scale · Profitability · Operating leverage
SMS Highway / Revenet
- Revenue£10m ▸ £28m
- ProfitBreakeven ▸ £3.8m
- Procurement£500k a year
Salesforce and Certinia implemented across commercial, operations and finance. Vendor base simplified. Helped shape and launch the Revenet operator monetisation proposition.
Turnaround · Simplification · Operating model
Hartstone Group
- Profit£2.5m loss ▸ £1m profit
- Headcount500 ▸ 300
- Product rangeReduced 90%
Restored profitability in a collapsing market by closing three brands, reducing the product range by 90%, resetting headcount from 500 to 300 and introducing make to order.
Situations
When to bring Perry in
The title varies. The situations repeat.01
The company is missing the plan
Revenue may be growing but margin is not. Commercial priorities and operations are disconnected. Management information explains what happened rather than controlling what happens next.
Relevant mandates
Interim CEO
CTrO
Operating Executive
02
The investment thesis is not becoming execution
The strategy may be right. Execution is not moving quickly or consistently enough. Priorities need converting into hard numbers, accountabilities, operating rhythms, decisions and management discipline.
Relevant mandates
Operating Advisor
Value Creation
CTrO
03
The business is approaching a transaction
Reporting, operating cadence, margins, management accountability, working capital control, the commercial narrative and due diligence readiness all need to be stronger.
Relevant mandates
CEO
CFO
Operating Advisor
Exit readiness
04
The business needs stabilising
Liquidity pressure, leadership disruption, a cost base that is too high, accumulated complexity, creditor and lender confidence to restore, underperformance that has become structural.
Relevant mandates
COO
Interim CEO
Transformation CFO
05
A founder led company needs its next operating model
What worked at £10m may not work at £30m. Professionalisation needs to happen without destroying entrepreneurial speed or customer intimacy.
Relevant mandates
CEO
Executive Chair
Operating Advisor
MBI / Acquisition CEO
Operating system
How Perry creates value
Financial underperformance is often a symptom. The operating cause sits further upstream.
01
Customer value
What does the customer genuinely value and pay for?
02
Commercial proposition
Where does the business have the right to win?
03
Operating requirements
What must sales, product, operations and finance deliver, numerically?
04
Management system
Who owns what, what gets measured, and how quickly is underperformance identified?
05
Financial performance
Revenue, margin, working capital, cash, EBITDA.
06
Enterprise value
Growth, resilience, optionality, exit.
Businesses lose profitability and value when what customers care about, what the commercial organisation promises and what operations are required to deliver stop being aligned.
Situations operated in
Growth
Profitability
Distress
Ownership transition
Exit
Flagship cases
Walk a mandate, stage by stage.
Choose a mandate
Then open any stage
Dialogue Group
The business carried A2P SMS traffic for mobile operators and for Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter, and was squeezed between both sides.
- Operators losing revenue to fraudulent A2P traffic
- Global brands relying on that same traffic
- Finance run regionally, reporting slowly
£2m ▸ £32mEnterprise value
£13m ▸ £60mRevenue
£0.3m ▸ £6mEBITDA
Dialogue Group
The market would pay a premium for legitimacy, and no competitor could hold the position of the only fully legitimate carrier.
- Legitimacy was a saleable product, not a compliance cost
- Operators would pay to recover their lost revenue
- The brands would follow once the routes closed
£2m ▸ £32mEnterprise value
£13m ▸ £60mRevenue
£0.3m ▸ £6mEBITDA
Dialogue Group
Blocking software built and sold to the operators, all fraudulent traffic refused, every supplying route closed, and finance restructured globally.
- Software sold to operators recovering tens of millions of dollars
- Fraudulent connectivity closed down entirely
- Finance moved to a cloud stack, processes onto force.com
£2m ▸ £32mEnterprise value
£13m ▸ £60mRevenue
£0.3m ▸ £6mEBITDA
Dialogue Group
Sunday Times International Track 200 in 2016, then a trade sale to a competitor in early 2017.
- Enterprise value £2m to £32m
- Revenue £13m to a £60m run rate
- Finance headcount down 50%, debtor days 55 to 35
£2m ▸ £32mEnterprise value
£13m ▸ £60mRevenue
£0.3m ▸ £6mEBITDA
SMS Highway / Revenet
A growing messaging business whose commercial, operational and finance systems were not built to turn revenue growth into profit.
- Revenue rising, margin not following
- Vendor base fragmented and expensive
- Commercial and finance data disconnected
£10m ▸ £28mRevenue
Breakeven ▸ £3.8mProfit
£500k a yearProcurement
SMS Highway / Revenet
Growth without a common operating platform adds cost as fast as it adds revenue.
- Operating leverage had to be designed in, not hoped for
- Procurement was a margin lever, not an admin task
- A monetisation product could open a new revenue line
£10m ▸ £28mRevenue
Breakeven ▸ £3.8mProfit
£500k a yearProcurement
SMS Highway / Revenet
One platform across the whole business, a simplified vendor base, and a new operator monetisation proposition.
- Salesforce and Certinia implemented end to end
- Vendor base simplified, £500k a year removed
- Revenet operator monetisation proposition shaped and launched
£10m ▸ £28mRevenue
Breakeven ▸ £3.8mProfit
£500k a yearProcurement
SMS Highway / Revenet
Revenue almost tripled while the business moved from breakeven to £3.8m of profit.
- Revenue £10m to £28m
- Breakeven to £3.8m of profit
- A PE backed management acquisition pursued in 2025, not completed
£10m ▸ £28mRevenue
Breakeven ▸ £3.8mProfit
£500k a yearProcurement
Hartstone Group
A £16m hosiery business losing £2.5m, with too much complexity, too much cost and an operating model no longer aligned to the market.
- Profitability under heavy pressure
- Product and brand complexity out of control
- Cost base built for a bigger, stronger business
£16mRevenue
£2.5m lossProfit position
500Headcount
Hartstone Group
The problem was not just trading pressure. The business had become too complicated to perform: too many brands, too many products, and an operating model that no longer matched customer demand.
- Complexity was destroying profitability
- Product range was diluting focus and margin
- Cost structure was out of line with the commercial reality
3Brands in the portfolio
90%Product range later removed
500 ▸ 300Headcount reset identified
Hartstone Group
Perry simplified the business decisively: closing three brands, reducing the product range by 90%, resetting headcount from 500 to 300, and introducing a make to order model.
- Closed 3 brands
- Reduced product range by 90%
- Reset headcount from 500 to 300
- Introduced make to order
3Brands closed
90%Range reduction
500 ▸ 300Headcount
Hartstone Group
The business moved from a £2.5m loss to a £1m profit, with a much simpler operating model and a cost base better aligned to market demand.
- Profitability restored
- Simpler, more focused business
- Operating model brought back into line with customer and market reality
£2.5m loss ▸ £1mProfit
90%Range reduction
500 ▸ 300Headcount
Portfolio interventions
Select a year
Seven mandates, on one line.
Hartstone Group
£1mprofit, from £2.5m of losses
SituationLosses of £2.5m on £16m of revenue in a collapsing market.
InterventionThree brands closed, product count down 90%, headcount 500 to 300, make to order introduced.
PatternCash first, then the operating model.
Shamsi Trading Group
3divisions created
SituationOne vertically integrated retail business, consistently overbuying stock.
InterventionSplit into three divisions by segment, franchises ceased, buying and stock control redesigned.
PatternOperating model, then the management system.
Presto Tools
£10mrevenues brought under control
SituationA long established supplier acquired out of administration with no finance function.
InterventionControls and reporting built, multi currency invoice discounting agreed, stock reconciliation established.
PatternControl and reporting from nothing.
Mercury Packaging
£40kmargin a month
SituationA highly leveraged business planning labour badly against demand.
InterventionPlanning systems redesigned, specialist consultants selected for colour printing.
PatternOperating model.
Gresham Timber
£100ksupport facility negotiated
SituationThe business was heading into administration.
InterventionSheffield freehold closed and sold, processing outsourced, run down managed to the last liability.
PatternCash first.
Access Group
£600kadditional cash flow
SituationCash trapped in a slow billing cycle with facilities under pressure.
InterventionBilling cycle 14 days to 3, debtor days 85 to 65, £350k of new facilities agreed with the bank.
PatternCash first, then reporting.
Airfield Lighting and Signs
0.33%customer returns, from 25%
SituationQuality failures and excess work in progress in a newly opened facility.
InterventionRight first time cells introduced, supply base rationalised, floor reorganised for visual management.
PatternOperating model, then accountability.
Private capital
Inside the business, where the plan has to be delivered.
Working with private capital
Investor facing
Portfolio Foods Group
SMS Highway / Revenet
Interim Group CFO of a PE backed business with covenant cover reporting, plus a PE backed management acquisition pursued in 2025 that did not complete.
Lender and special measures
Barclays
NatWest
Board appointments into businesses in special measures through specialist bank processes during the Mercia years, 2006 to 2010.
Governance
Monthly and quarterly board cadence
A1 Housing Bassetlaw
Formal board reporting rhythm across every major executive role, plus a public sector company board seat from 2005 to 2007.
Transactions and 100 day plans
Dialogue sell side
Hartstone
Advisor selection, buyer presentations and operating leadership through the Dialogue sale, with the Hartstone recovery plan built and executed against a fixed early window.
Perry has spent most of his career on the management side of the table, implementing the changes investors, boards and lenders ultimately need a business to deliver.
Mandates
Current mandate interests
Choose a categoryWorking alongside a fund or a portfolio company board to turn the value creation plan into operating requirements the management team can be held to.
- Operating Partner
- Operating Advisor
- Portfolio Value Creation
Taking the executive seat when the plan is being missed and the gap between commercial priorities and operations has to be closed quickly.
- Interim CEO
- Transformation CEO
- Chief Transformation Officer
Stabilising liquidity, resetting the cost base and rebuilding creditor, lender and investor confidence around a forecast that holds.
- Chief Restructuring Officer
- Interim CEO
- Transformation CFO
Professionalising a founder led or newly acquired business without losing the speed and customer intimacy that built it.
- CEO
- Executive Chair
- MBI / acquisition operating partner
Getting reporting, margins, working capital and the commercial narrative to the standard a buyer and their advisors will test.
- CEO
- CFO
- Operating Advisor
- Exit readiness
London based, working internationally
Perry at a glance
The diligence answers, in one place.
Trained at Goodman Jones from 1979, first finance directorship in 1982, executive roles continuously since.
Global CEO and Global CFO at Dialogue, CEO at Berketex Bride, Executive Chair at Charnos knitwear, Interim CFO at Portfolio Foods.
Chartered management accountant, following articles at a nine partner West End firm.
London and Singapore at Dialogue, New York at Inveniam, Egypt at Shamsi, sourcing across Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
A1 Housing Bassetlaw board member 2005 to 2007, and bank nominated special measures board roles through Mercia, 2006 to 2010.
Interim Group CFO of PE backed Portfolio Foods, sell side leadership at Dialogue.
Most mandates between £5m and £40m of revenue, where one operator can change the outcome.
Selective, UK and international, with a preference for situations where performance has to change inside a defined window.
Sectors
Telecoms and messaging
Software and digital media
Manufacturing
Retail and hospitality
Construction
Aviation equipment
Food and textiles
Track record
Five chapters, 1979 to today.
Select an era to see the detail
Recent operating mandates
Executive and restructuring assignments taken through Time To Simplify, the vehicle Perry uses for selected operating work rather than an advisory practice.
- SMS Highway / Revenet: revenue £10m to £28m, breakeven to £3.8m profit, £500k of annual procurement saving
- Salesforce and Certinia implemented across commercial, operations and finance
- Operating assignments, board interventions and performance recovery, not coaching programmes
Inveniam Capital Partners
A marketplace for mid market debt and equity serving institutional and qualified investors, combining strategic advisory with an online marketplace and a professional services network.
- Practice group leadership across strategic advisory mandates
- Mid market debt and equity marketplace for alternative assets
- Institutional and qualified investor client base
- Bridging the gap between the need for expertise and the need for capital
Dialogue Group
A2P SMS messaging for mobile network operators and for Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter, repositioned as the only fully legitimate carrier in the market, then sold.
- Enterprise value £2m to £32m on exit in early 2017
- Revenue £13m to a £60m run rate, EBITDA £300k to £6m
- As CFO, finance headcount down 50% on a new cloud stack
- Debtor days 55 to 35, Sunday Times International Track 200
Mercia Corporate Finance
Executive assignments with companies of £5m to £15m revenues across construction, manufacturing, printing, digital media, aviation equipment and mobile messaging, often turnaround or rapid restructuring.
- Typical outcomes: revenue up 25%, productivity up 40%, £600k of cash generated
- Bank nominated board roles in businesses under special measures, 2006 to 2010
- Managing Director, PowerText: revenues up 300%, £500k raised
- A1 Housing Bassetlaw board member, 2005 to 2007
Executive roles in industry
Consecutive restructurings in manufacturing and retail, each sold to a board or a bank before being executed, following training in audit and a first finance directorship.
- Hartstone hosiery: £2.5m of losses to £1m of profit, headcount 500 to 300, 100 day plan
- Berketex Bride: losses to an £800k run rate, £1.1m of working capital released
- Charnos knitwear: overheads down £250k, 100% on time delivery created
- Woodhouse PLC: turnover £3m to £15m, losses in 1982 to £750k of profit in 1988
Every number here was delivered from an executive seat, not a slide.
CEO seats
CFO seats
Interim mandates
