One of the nice things about being on holiday is the change of scene. OK, admittedly I had to decamp to a Regus office one afternoon to shepherd through a couple of urgent placements, and one room-with-a-desk looks much like another. But Devon in the spring was beautiful and restorative.

Being without a proper internet link for a week also helped the recharging process. You have a chance to reflect – to enjoy time with the family (and there were a lot of them on this trip), think about what happens next, and work on the business rather than in it.

Then, coincidentally, I’ve started working with a company that’s all about changing scenes. It’s in the entertainment industry, and moves from venue to venue. (No, I haven’t joined the circus…) It needs a CFO to drive the business side, and to give confidence to the backers.

Getting out and about has, for them, opened up opportunities - and it can open minds. I’ve started chatting to PwC this month about setting up some networking events for CFOs – and especially for financial managers with turnaround skills. We’re keen to make it regional, and we’re already looking at venues in Bristol and Reading. We’ll design the dinners as learning events (a few CPD points can’t hurt), but above all it’s a chance to share ideas and create connections. I can’t wait (and if you’re elsewhere in the country drop me a line – we want more locations).

It’s no coincidence, too, that PwC is showing an interest in turnaround. The business landscape continues to feel fragile. With so much uncertainty, folks with the discipline to manage cash, create runway for buffeted businesses, and support new strategies will be in high demand. “Business support” is where we’re aiming, not administrations.

But that means it’s not all new faces. For me, this mission also means getting back in touch with some old contacts. (If you’re turnaround or interim and we haven’t spoken for a while – give me a ring.) It’s about re-invigorating connections as much as finding new faces.

So here’s my plea: email me! I want to know what our dinners ought to be looking at. Are there themes we should be tackling? Experts we ought to invite along? Places we ought to host events? Even just saying “hi” can kick off a journey to new places and new faces.

- Ray Nicholls

Things to do...

***Now...***
**Get set for summer**
Most people have booked time off, but making sure key decisions can be taken during the traditional holiday period looks critical this year. What’s the comms plan when management are on the beach?

***Next...***
**Plan hiring**
Counter-intuitive? Maybe. But with the new NI costs baked in, school leavers hitting the market, and a need to pivot to whatever avoids getting stung by Trumponomics, we need teams ready for opportunity.

***Later...***
**Growth-adjacent?**
Some sectors look poised for decent growth – areas such as defence, cyber-security, housing, social care... they’re all hot-button issues that won’t go away. Can your business get into those supply chains?

Lies, damned lies, and...

12,000 a month

Pitch Hill Partners recruits people with special skills and experience, for roles that are often unique. But we also take an interest in the wider jobs market. Partly it’s a measure of economic health. A bit of it is that our clients and candidates are often building teams, not just filling holes. And it’s also a decent look at how workplaces are changing.

A report from PwC, Turning the tide on economic activity, has analysed a big factor for the UK labour market: people not working. Or, to be more precise, people withdrawing from work. The stat driving their report is that since late 2019, the number of people neither working nor looking for work has risen by roughly 12,000 a month net.

Covid, yes. But the huge survey – over 4,000 individuals – has some interesting pointers for all businesses. For example, more than a third of people considering leaving the workforce feel that way “due to unfulfilling work”. And 38% of 35-44 year olds say they would exit thanks to lack of career growth.

Interesting findings while we try to work out whether and how AI will reshape the type of work we’re doing, who gets experience in low-level jobs, and how fast they might progress. (AI agents doing boring tasks might keep humans on more fulfilling stuff; but then, fewer people will gain dull-but-key ground-floor experience that opens up career paths.)

AI isn’t the only factor that intersects with business employment. A massive 42% of 18-24 year olds are considering leaving work due to mental health concerns, which suddenly makes health and education policy – not to mention workplace inclusivity – a big issue if you’re trying to hire. Time for some properly joined-up thinking… Although with the number of vacancies falling recently, maybe the problem is deeper than building better workplaces....

On trend

Never waste a crisis

We love working with businesses and candidates that have special requirements – it’s the sweet spot for a boutique recruiter, where being able to get under the skins of the job and the possible hires (in ways that maybe the bigger recruiters don’t) pays off. That includes rapid growth, special situations (such as listing, fundraising or strategic shift) – and turnarounds.

There’s a mini-industry in that last field – including bodies like the IFT (Institute for Turnaround), and the TMA (Turnaround Management Association). But it’s really driven by specialist firms and finance execs (and others, naturally) with the guts and guile to guide businesses through tough times.

Are things ‘tough’ now? Well, there are plenty of warning signs. (Comparisons with 2008 are perhaps overblown… or at least we’re in a different category of ‘tricky’… See below.) In its most recent survey, 83% of the IFT members said they were getting busier. Although insolvencies were down slightly in Q4, the number of companies “in distress” is up. According to Begbies Traynor, "The number of businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress rose 13.1% year-on-year in Q1 2025, with 45,416 companies now affected."

But the trend here is proactive crisis management. The IFT data is fascinating: depletion of working capital is down from the top spot in causes of distress, with inflation, debt servicing and access to funding taking the top spots. (Tariff trauma doesn't help, of course...) Which says, perhaps, that getting the finances right in the context of general volatility is the key to ensuring this remains an industry around ‘business support’ and not fixing broken companies.

Allied to that sense of making proper strategic decisions when times are tight, and this genuinely feels positive – we’re thinking ahead about this stuff, not just letting it happen.

Words from the wise

CFOs reflect on 2008

We’re trying hard not to be too doomish at the moment. Sure, the Trump Tariffs are making even short-term planning tricky, the financial markets are on a roller-coaster, PE is working hard to unwind long-term issues, and the fundamentals for global economies are pretty hairy. But our job is finding finance execs who bring much needed discipline and creativity to businesses – we believe in you guys!

Still, when CFO Brew put out a brief oral history of the 2008 financial crash – in the words of the CFOs who lived through it – we couldn’t help but take it seriously, given the current circumstances. It’s a quick read, but serves to reinforce some truisms that we’re sure will serve us all well in 2025 and beyond.

The key points? Things can turn on a dime – all the CFOs recalled the shock of Lehman Bros collapsing and bringing everything down immediately. The shockwaves went way beyond banking - fast.

Then act quickly. For finance, that meant grabbing cash and inventory management by the scruff of the neck and focusing on the hard deliverables such as payroll. (Cash and inventory are huge right now, of course – because cash isn’t as safe as it was; and inventory probably includes stuff on boats with Schrödinger’s Tariffs.)

There are also lessons. “We could have spent more time using that downturn in business volume to focus on our processes, to improve them,” said one. Another added that weighing up short-term fixes was key – lest you end up in a worse situation 12 or 18 months hence. The CFOs interviewed seemed happy to see parallels to today – but emphasised: there’s always a ‘Black Swan’ event these days, and by definition it's probably not something you can see unfolding in advance. Get used to it.

Passé meme of the month

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