Trevor Parker

A highly motivated, energetic and pragmatic leader, Trevor is a “Linchpin”, he is an individual who can walk in to chaos and create order, he can make things happen and get things done.

Trevor has a natural, dynamic and motivational leadership style. He will lead by example, supporting and working alongside his team. He is a team builder, motivator and mentor with a keen desire to support people at all levels.

Diversity - Involved in a variety of roles from; sales and marketing, direct sales teams, customer services, training and HR, centralised PDI, cars, bikes, leisure vehicles, LCV, finance and insurance based sales teams.

Leadership - Strategic and operational leadership skills vigorously tested during a decade of operational duties in Her Majesties Royal Marines followed by over 20 years of leading turnaround projects in the motor industry.

Sales and Divestment – an experienced business builder through the acquisition of private businesses, raising funds to support the sale and divestment of businesses or assets from private ownership

Equity Raising - Raised some £30m via public markets to fund acquisitions. Raised £6m from Private Equity to fund the acquisition of a distressed business. Raised investmentto facilitate the sale of a part equity stake for private owners through a share placing.

Business Growth –as group operations director, part of the senior management team who grew Dixon motors Plc to one of the largest motor retailers in the UK. As CEO personally Led the growth of an automotive group from a single site operator (£25m turnover) to the largest leisure vehicle retailer in the United Kingdom with a turnover in excess of £150m across 16 locations. Involved in numerous acquisitions and directly led the acquisition of 15 businesses.

Specialties: - Strategy, Operations, Sales and marketing, Business Improvement, Revenue Generation, Reduction of non productive cost bases, Acquisitions, Organisational Alignment, Productivity, Process Re-engineering, Public Raisings, Private Equity.

January 2012–Present –Independent Executive

Working on various Interim assignments and projects

November 2015–Present - SatCase–Chief Executive

SatCase is a technology company in the advanced stages of developing a revolutionary device that transforms the common smartphone into a sophisticated satellite phone. Satcase is a private equity backed technology company which had fallen well behind schedule for the design and build of its product. I have been bought in by the private equity partners to turnaround the project.

Redesigned the product
Outsourced product design and engineering
Relocated office and team
Dealt with bitter legal case against former management
Raised £1.5m of new funding
Stabilised investor base

January 2015–Present –Planet X–Chairman

Planet X is an online bicycle retailer with a turnover of £20m. The business was placed into the business support unit of its clearing bank in mid 2015, it had lost money for the previous 2 years and was rapidly running out of cash. I have led the turnaround of the business.

On track to achieve £2.5m EBITDA in current year
Reduced property portfolio
Reduced manpower costs by £1.1m
Increased sales rate from an average of £33k per day to £63k per day
Increased Gross Margin by 5%
Offered £13m for an outright purchase by a private equity firm who own a competitor (rejected)
£2m free cash at bank
Back into normalised banking

March 2014–Present - Motorway DirectPlc/AA Warranty–Interim Sales and Marketing Director

Appointed by the Chairman and Chief Executive to lead a turnaround of the sales force. Motorway Direct is an FCA regulated firm operating within the General insurance industry. The company is the only firm to have direct authority to sell an AA product that is not owned by the AA. This is an on-going Interim role.

Re-built the sales team
Created and Implemented an electronic Sales Management System
Stabilised the existing customer base
Increased revenue by c£3m pa
Increased gross margin by 6% (24% to 30%)

April 2013–March 2014–Eco City VehiclesPlc –InterimChief Executive(£33m turnover)

Appointed by the majority shareholders, chairman and investors to turnaround and grow this Niche Mercedes-Benz commercial business in London. The business had been floundering and required decisive action and motivational leadership. The business was tired, suffering from low morale leading to a poor customer reputation and terrible relationships with its key partners.

I personally facilitated the divestment of 16% of the equity for the business founders through a share placing, bringing in a blue chip investor. Implementing a 3 phase strategy for growth I have restored customer, manufacturer and importantly shareholder confidence.

Engaging the entire team at ECV who stepped up their efforts to engage with core customers and partners delivering a resilient first half which has resulted in strong operational cash flow, higher gross margins and EBITDA. There was also an improvement on the quality of earnings:

Raised 1.2m of investment to reduce original ownership shareholding
Whilst there is a double digit market decline revenues increased by 4%
Improved sales mix which resulted in an increased gross margin of 2%
Reduced the first half net loss by over 50% to £200k despite £500k of exceptional costs relating to legacy issues (H1 2012 £500k)
Increased EBITDA by over 100%
Significant improvement in operating cash flow, generating an additional £400k of cash in the period
Delivered a record vehicle sales result for September 2013
Embarked upon a diversification strategy and introduced our own fleet of Mercedes Vito Taxi’s
Developed a parts supply business, securing an additional manufacturing franchise
Built out the dealer management team
Re-launched the body repair business and Gained Mercedes-Benz approval
Secured warranty repair status for our main competitor

January 2012–April 2013–Ethos Corporate Finance – Interim Partner

Interim role working in this boutique corporate finance team

Re-financed a…..
Raised asset based lending for…
Supported management team with MBO
Raised new investment for…

2006 - October 2011 - Discover Plc - Chief Executive(£150m turnover)

As CEO of Discover I led the growth of this automotive leisure vehicle business from £25m-£120m turnover over an 18 Month period, leading to the company being the UK’s largest retailer of leisure vehicles.

As a direct consequence of the credit crisis in 2008 volumes slumped by an unprecedented 30-40% virtually overnight and the company was forced to undertake a radical restructuring plan. Backed by both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group I led the UKs first major public CVA and embarked on a major asset disposal and cost reduction plan.

Post restructure the business reduced losses ahead of forecast and outperformed the market though demand continued to be depressed and gross margins were squeezed. Critically the business also suffered from the withdrawal of manufacturer volume rebates which, as the biggest retailer in the sector, had been very beneficial to Discover.

Going into 10/11 demand fell compared to the previous year and overall the market was still c.30% off the peak.Additionally a stock overhang across the sector re. 2010 models contributed to a further 2% drop in gross margins (from c. 14% to 12%) as Discover was forced to price match other retailers. Following an abortive accelerated M&A process and the agreement of its bankers directors appointed administrators in October 2011

During this time I successfully managed/balanced PLC, Bank and Directors duties. Handled day to day communications, facility negotiations, covenant setting and coordination with bankers and advisors maintaining first class relationships and references.

Balance Sheet Restructuring

Improved stock turn ratio by 50% from 2.8 to 4.2 reducing overall stock from £41m to £10m
Reduced stock funding exposure from £32m to £6m over a 3 year period.

Reduced senior debt exposure, including overdraft from £16m to £10m (38%)
Reduced senior debt including overdraft by 38% from £16m to £10m

Business Re-engineering

Instigated an aggressive rationalisation of the cost base, closing 11 branches across the country.
Sold 5 surplus freeholds reducing loan debt by 38% from £13m to £8m
Conducted a total overhaul of the operating model Improving like for like gross margin by 61%
Reduced total like for like employee costs by 30%, £1.7m
Reduced LFL operating costs by 32%, £1.5m

. Business Improvement

Introduced a self funded customer contact centre which reduced compensation costs by £100k.
Built aretail insurance business adding £400k of revenue and £75k of margin in 12 Months.
Improved after-sales margins by 17% to 46% adding an additional £300k of revenue.

Outperformed a declining market by 3%
Improved used to new ratio by 27%, an additional 200 units
Despite the huge market decline improved under-lying EBITDA by £2.7m, from £2.5m loss to £0.2m profit

2005 - 2006 Independent Executive

MTC Vodaphone for Africa and the Middle East.

Conducted a re-structure, created and implemented a complete structured sales process aimed at creating better lead generation and sales.

Hamptons International estate agents.

Working as an advisor to the CEO, conducted and implemented a complete financial remodelling of the business operations, stripping out wasted costs and non productive activity. This enabled the owner to sell the business to a private equity house.

Rexam Glass.

Mentoring and Coaching for the senior team helping to reintroducefinancially driven productivity measures in order to improve efficiencies.

University of Sheffield.

Facilitated a strategic planning process for the sports faculty following a change to its financial funding structure.
Designed a roll out sequence to cascade relevant information across the whole faculty.

Le Royal Meridien hotel Dubai.

Following a financial review designed and rolled out a performance improvement project for Jumeirah beach hotel.
Programme success led to appointment to assist with the launch plan of their new 6 star hotel also on Jumeirah beach.

Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait.

Worked with the local Bahraini management team on restructuring and the introduction of a radical new style of retail banking for the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Minister of Works and Housing Bahrain.

Ran a mentoring and leadership programme for the Ministerial team. Introduced financial and business awareness programme.

2004 – 2005RBS Car DivisionDirector of Customer Services

Upon the sale of Dixon Motors PLC to the Royal Bank of Scotland the senior team from Dixon were on a fixed term contract for 12 Months. The car division is more widely recognised as Jam-Jar Cars, Lombard Vehicle Management and Dixon Retail.

One of only two of the executives from Dixon to be promoted to the RBS Car Division Board.

Large scale organisational change
Integrating business into one division
Senior responsibility for the delivery of all key change programmes

Rationalised cost base taking out circa £1m of administrative costs
Streamlined the operating systems removing 3 duplicated IT systems
Integrated the ordering front end and leads
Centralised vehicle preparation and delivery removing numerous supply chains

1997 - 2004Dixons Motors PLCGroup Operations Director

As part of the senior management team I was responsible for business improvement and the integration of newly acquired businesses. These businesses were predominantly failing business units which required a substantial amount of re-organising to bring them back to profitability and positive contribution.

Liaison with major car manufacturers including Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Rover/MG, Ford, Renault, Volkswagen, Vauxhall, Audi and Rolls Royce
Responsible for the recovery of non-performing business units and integration of acquired businesses which were primarily underperforming acquisitions.
Directly responsible for the turnaround of centralised preparation and distribution centre

Brought the cost base back into line with the business plan
Removed double shift to single shift pattern
Reduced customer complaints from 1:4 to 1:36
Increased utilisation from 45% to 100%

1996 – 1997Lookers plc.HR Director

Lookers PLC is one of the oldest motor dealer groups in the motor industry at the time employing circa 3,500 people and representing most motor franchises.

Recruited by the Chief Executive and the Managing director responsible for 80 retail sites in three business divisions and 3,500 employees.

On appointment, conceived and led staff morale turnaround programme, caused by declining profit environment, involving workshops and training seminars that transformed attitudes and recaptured the “fun, fair, and easy” corporate ethos.

Whilst this role was a promotion to the operations board, the role in fact removed me from having any influence on operations and the performance of the business;I was not suited to such detachment.

1992 – 1996Dixons Motors PLCOperational Training Manager

The business was extremely acquisitive at the time and had a problem with the speed at which it was taking to align the new acquisitions. This new role was created specifically to speed up the integration and improve the performance of the businesses.

Regular involvement in assessment of potential business acquisitions, manpower, planning, employee contracts of employment and transfers of personnel undertakings
Negotiated and completed new employment contracts for circa 70 business acquisitions involving 2,000 employees
Responsible for planning, organising and integrating some 70 business acquisitions
Conceived and set up UK's first specialist vehicle maintenance training centre
Negotiated £3.5m grants and loans for a new training centre
Closed down and stripped out former showrooms
Invested £1m in construction and fitting out of the new centres
Secured new vehicles and training equipment from major car manufacturers to equip the centre
Designed and wrote training manuals and procedures
Recruited and appointed Training Managers and 12 staff
Instigated training with Police, local authorities, lawyers, motor manufacturers, motoring services and insurance company personnel

1980 – 1991HM Services Royal Marines Commando

Since the Second World War, the Royal Marines have developed a specific function as a Commando and Special Operations force, undertaking operations in harsh environments be they mountain, Jungle, cold weather or desert.

Served around the globe from the Arctic Circle to Central America on worldwide operations. Covered a wide range of active service duties including The Falklands campaign and Special anti terrorist duties, reconnaissance and surveillance work and Intelligence gathering operations. The majority of 11 years of service being spent within reconnaissance and intelligence gathering organisations.

One of only 9 to complete Commando training from the original 100
On completion of Commando training awarded seniority and recommended for accelerated leadership
Numerous specialist courses
Distinguished passes on all command and leadership courses
Rising to Special Forces level

This unique experience has shaped my operational leadership style; "People Oriented and Mission Focused".

Leisure Interests

I have been married to Debbie for 30 years and have two children Thomas aged 21 and Olivia aged 14. In between pulling a horse box around the country...I train and compete in adventure racing and believe that my training and commitment to racing provides positive benefit to my work in terms of teamwork, focus, dedication and willingness to continually push myself.