Credit Advisory Services | Case Studies | SeatonHill Partners
top of page
SH blue fade header case studies.png

Case Study

Creditor Advisory Services

Private Debt Fund Portfolio Company

A middle market oil field services company providing contract drilling & completion engineering suffered a 66% year over year decline in revenue.

Situation​

Turnaround & Restructuring Initiatives​

  • The company’s revenue had grown at a 27% CAGR for the 3 years before the sales decline.  However, in the year before the sales decline the company reported a net loss of 50% of revenue.
     

  • On the heels of these negative results, the lender called for a third-party rapid assessment of the company’s operations and financial reporting.

  • Assessed management reporting and performed ratio analysis and benchmarking, highlighting the following problems.

    • Management reports contained material errors in utilization rates;

    • Reports included misclassifications between SG&A and Cost of Services;

    • The company failed to use the reporting system’s capability to present performance by line of business;

    • The company consistently underperformed its peers in gross and net profit margins.
       

  • Identified that in the year the company reported a 66% sales decline, two customers accounted for over 50% of total revenue. Most customers were smaller, below credit-grade, and were more likely to be capital-constrained.
     

  • Determined the company primarily served oil and gas basins with low levels of drilling and completion activity.

Results​

  • Recommended the following performance improvement and strategic initiatives.
     

  • Enhance management reporting and key performance indicators to include:

    • revenue and gross profit by professional, client, and basin;

    • billable hours and utilization rates by professional, client, and basin.
       

  • Rationalize operating costs through a combination of reducing headcount and tying compensation to billing and collections.
     

  • Evaluate CFO performance and capabilities to determine suitability.
     

  • Reposition the company to win business in more active oil and gas basins by recruiting a prominent sales and business development team and leading drilling and completion engineers.

bottom of page