Successful turnaround of loss-making Franki, subsidiary of Willemen Group

Change & Transformation

About the company

Franki, with headquarters in Flémalle, is a subsidiary of the Willemen Group, one of the larger Belgian construction firms. The company, with over 200 staff, realized a turnover varying between 120 and 130mio EUR over the last years.

Industry: construction
Project duration: 12 months

Challenges

Franki made losses for years, which led Sogepa (an investment fund of the Walloon government) to support the company through a capital increase of 6 million EUR at the end of 2020. Operationally, however, the local executives failed to turn the tide.

In May 2021, Tom Willemen (Group CEO) requested Essensys to restructure the Franki subsidiary. Essensys appointed an ad-interim general manager, with a relevant construction background to optimize daily operations and restore profitability.

Solution

The Essensys Interim Manager drew up and implemented a restructuring plan under guidance of Tom Willemen and Michel Van Hemele, Managing Partner of Essensys, including:

reorganization of the calculation departments resulting in a more correct cost price calculation for new construction projects
optimization of cash flow
stricter monthly monitoring of the construction sites
larger responsibility for the project managers
improved communication with employees at all levels of the organization
fixed costs reduction
the signing of 60mio EUR worth of new building projects

Results

After 12 months of repositioning Franki, the time was right for the Essensys ad-interim executive to hand over command to a newly hired general manager. He will be able to develop a new growth path for the company on the basis of the restored financial health.

“Franki has been making a profit again since the beginning of this year after a conscious reduction in turnover”, said Tom Willemen in De Tijd newspaper of July 8th 2022.

Choose your Interim Manager wisely

Turbulent times require a steady hand. Guiding your organization through change calls for decisive and swift actions. The top 12% of the Essensys Executive Interim Managers portfolio comprises champions in change and transformation. Champions who help you drive change and assure the implementation of your strategic goals.

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