Ryan Dagnall | MBA ACMA CGMA

Houseful is the parent brand of several prop-tech companies (including Zoopla, Alto Software, and Hometrack), part of PE backed group ZPG Limited.

Finance Lead on transformation; focusing on People/Organisational Design, Capital Investment (Software Development and M&A activity), Employee Reward and Exit Readiness. Routine FP&A activity including budgets, reforests and long range planing (preparing and presenting, investor and board quality, decks). Regularly presented at both Audit and Remuneration Committee's.

Report to the CFO, leading a team of 2. Principal business partner to the CEO and CPO. Responsible for c. £45m Open, c. £20m Capex and c. £3m Exceptional Costs. From January 24 role expanded to include lead business Risk Management.

Key Deliverables

• Cost Transformation - built complex models as a foundation to effectively partner the business on designing a leaner and more productive organisation; c. 200 head reduction (£15m EBITDA improvement, +18%). Lead financial management, and contracting, of the outsourcing of the customer support function (£1m EBITDA improvement, +1%).
• M&A - prepared valuations, prepared due diligence and managed the financial integration of two acquisitions; Halo Rent (c. £1m) and SalesSeek (c. £2.5m).
• Reward - Designed new, simpler, commission schemes which were evaluated to drive incremental revenue of £2m. p.a. (c. 1.5% growth). Developed and implemented a reward policy that simplified pay/reward, funding the implementation of the 'Real Living Wage'. Introduced salary banding and a new - performance related - bonus scheme underpinned by external benchmarking.
• Risk Management - codified the risk appetite and built risk framework. Established risk register and risk committee (acted as chair). Introduced scenario planning & horizon scanning to develop plans for strategic risk.
• Exit Preparation - as part of a strategic decision to exit the group in three components, planned the employee cost implications. Implemented changes with the CPO devolving the employee base from the consolidated Houseful company to the separate business entities.
• FP&A - Houseful lead in the ZPG refinancing working group, prepared/presented financial information to lenders, and resolved questions/concerns as part of refinancing the companies debt.

Started as a contractor on a project with a remit to 'professionalise commercial finance planning/analysis processes' following significant transactional/complexity growth. Notably, success in the role lead to promotion to Head of Finance (on a permanent basis) to broaden transformation remit.

Key Deliverables

• Shareholder/Lender Reporting - developed monthly management reporting, overlayed forward risk/ops forecasting, to manage relations with external stakeholders. Gave performance update at monthly shareholder/investor meeting..
• Staff Cost Reporting - Developed reporting/modelling (Excel/SQL) that integrates with the HRIS (Workday) to semi-automate Staff Cost forecasting (both short term outlook, and annual budgets).
• FP&A - Establishment of budget, risk & ops, and long-range planning models and associated board/executive presentations templates.
• Pricing - built detailed customer profitability modelling (including CAC/LTV), overlayed with ARPU and ARR and Churn rates, to forecast out revenue budgets based on various sensitivities (lead to +4% increase in revenue through dynamic price rises).
• Talent Development - Supported recruitment and onboarding of 2 x Commercial Finance Business Partners. Developed Induction plan for newly appointed Commercial Finance Director.

The role. was the finance lead within the Vodafone Partner Markets division, Vodafone's consultancy arm which brought Vodafone's telecommunications expertise to companies in developing markets. This role covered all areas of finance (Financial Planning & Business Partnering, through Financial Reporting, Payables & Receivables).

Principal Business Partner to the divisional CEO and SLT. Line Management of a team of 4. Annual Revenue c. £200m (6 currencies) and c. £40m operating expenditure.

Key Deliverables

• Cost Optimisation - Designed, and implemented, a cost-reduction programme removing £3m of cost; funding £1m of reinvestment and £2m of efficiencies (c. 4% EBITDA improvement)
• Investment Spend - Management of capex budget (€10m p.a) chair of the Approval Forum. Developed simplified approval processes that increased compliance and reduced decision making speed
• Contract Pricing - Detailed ‘Direct Product Profitability' modelling for product/proposition to develop parameters in which commercial leadership could price new contracts.
• Business Case Development - Lead business case development process for creation of a new Norwegian Virtual Network (MVNO). Prepared all three statements and prepared investment appraisal (incl. NPV, IRR etc.)
• Foreign Exchange - developed contractual controls to minimise FX risk, and prepared cashflow statements to establish hedging instruments with group treasury,

Joined a newly formed start-up subsidiary within the parent company of British Airways - IAG Connect Limited. IAG Connect was responsible for the group wide e-commerce platforms available (on flights).

Started as the first finance employee, before rapid transition growth over two years (c. £0.1m to c. £20m, or 1.2m transactions) lead to an expanded FC remit and onboarding a team of 6 direct reports.

Reported into, and acted as strategic partner to, the Managing Director

Key Deliverables

• FP&A - delivered financial planning (budgets, long range plans and reforecasts.
• Pricing - Developed the pricing strategy for the onboard wi-fi proposition underpinned by detailed modelling and external research.. Led to a 25% increase in take-up, and a 5% increase in ATV. Gross Margin increased by 10% bps.
• Data/Reporting - • Project managed the establishment of an integrated data warehouse to build reporting/analytical capabilities. Subsequent ‘Hands on' building of tableau dashboards (incl. SQL).
• Company Administration - acted as the company secretary preparing all statutory/regulatory submissions (including Corporation Tax and VAT).
• Cash Management - developed processes for the effective management of foreign exchange. Developed a reconciliation process from transaction, through acquirer, through bank account to reduce leakage from non settled transactions (c. £250k of benefit).
• Accounting - built all accounting/payment processes from scratch. Prepared 3 years of statutory accounts, all of which were audited and filed on time.
• Finance Team Design - As the first finance hire, designed a finance function, recruited, onboarded and set up for success a a team of 6 (1 x FP&A role, 1 x Commercial Analyst, 2 x MA, 1 x AP and 1 x AR).

Began in data science/analytics roles and transitioned to FP&A/Commercial Finance roles.

Key achievements included:

• Commercial Analysis - Blended commercial analysis experience with financial experience to co-ordinate the pricing response to significant current cost fluctuations (in 2016, post EU Referendum vote). Bridged the associated Gross Margin impact by achieving an annualised increase of £10m in rate improvement (offset by £3m of volume impact). Achieved this through focusing on areas with the biggest price perception differential (and not absolute price).
• Employee Engagement - Built up employee engagement in the retail finance team and then recognised, after inheriting a team in the bottom 10% (based on the companies' engagement metrics), for achieving a result in the top 10% at the next survey.