BH PROVIDES SECURE FUTURE FOR WARD SECURITY

When David Ward, managing director of Ward Security, won Business Person of the Year in the Kent Business Awards in 2006, little did he know that his business – which itself was shortlisted for an award on the same night – would, less than a year later, be forced into administration.

Fortunately, Burgess Hodgson was on hand to provide the right help at the right time, and having rescued the business from the administrators, David is now working more closely than ever with the firm to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated.

Ward Security is a family owned business, run by David and his brother Kevin, with their mother as Company Secretary. The business has been trading, in one form or another for 13 years, and has amassed a huge amount of industry experience in that time.

The Rochester-based business provides a wide range of security services to an even wider range of clients, from the headquarters of Kent County Council to a Calor Gas depot with 50,000 tonnes of butane gas; from luxury city offices to local authority parks and open spaces. “You name it, then we’ve got something we look after,” says David.

Its initiative and desire to expand saw the company winning clients and awards. “We did everything that a good company does,” says David. “We surrounded ourselves with great people to take us forward, hence our chairman was a corporate lawyer and our finance director an accountant and barrister.”

Since the rebirth of the company last year, Burgess Hodgson has been extremely involved in the financial management of the business, offering a wide range of services including, most importantly, the kind of high level business advice with which the firm has made its name.

It’s not the first time Burgess Hodgson has worked with Ward Security. The firm was previously employed as accountants, but the incoming finance director preferred to work with his own people, and, in 2006, Burgess Hodgson found itself temporarily on the sidelines.

This hiatus was short-lived. In 2007, financial overstretching forced Ward Security into what David describes as a “hostile administration”.

It was a frustrating time for David and Ward Security. A last minute deal to fund the business and buy it back from the finance company was never brought to the table; in the end, David and Kevin borrowed the money from an external finance company to buy the company back out of administration.

At the same time, Burgess Hodgson partner Andrew Miles called David to offer his services. “This said a lot about Andrew and Burgess Hodgson,” says David. “We realised that the company had made a massive mistake and re-engaged Burgess Hodgson as our accountants.”

The immediate issues were making sure that employees were paid and that clients were retained. “We were very open and honest with them,” explains David, “and, in fact, we retained almost 90% of our client base. So, while we lost one or two big clients, we gained an extra £1m of work within the next 12 months.”

Burgess Hodgson has been extremely hands-on in returning the business back to its previous levels, particularly Andrew Miles, who David describes as “not your average accountant”. “He was happy to roll his sleeves up and get in there with us,” says David, “looking at budgets, forecasts, true reporting and accounting procedures.”

David says it’s an excellent working relationship – and one that he’s positive will continue. “We don’t know all the answers and neither does Burgess Hodgson. But, together, we brainstorm and work on various issues, examining the detail. Whereas previously, we were lucky if we could look at the bigger financial picture, now we are looking at the variance reports on the number of hours that we haven’t charged a client. There’s a much greater transparency of financial information.”

He’s also convinced that, without Burgess Hodgson’s help, Ward Security would have folded. “Without its help, we simply wouldn’t have a business now,” says David. “We’re consolidating our position and looking at cost control exercises at head office level and margin improvement at site level – and Burgess Hodgson will be on hand to help us along the way.”