Financial Director

Job content

Coyne & Associates Ltd has been retained by Stonegate Farmers Ltd to identify a Finance Director to lead its operational, commercial and strategic finance agendas. As a key appointment to the leadership team, we are looking for a forward thinking, charismatic senior finance profile with relevant manufacturing experience.

Stonegate Farmers Ltd (http://www.stonegate.co.uk) is located in Lacock, a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, about 3 miles south of Chippenham, and about 4 miles outside the Cotswold area. Focused on collaboration and driving a team culture, we are looking for you to be on site 5 days/week (albeit with flexibility).

About Stonegate Farmers Ltd

Stonegate Farmers Ltd is an integrated free range and organic egg business organised across three divisions comprising farming and agriculture, egg packing and cooked egg processing. Under new ownership since 2016 the business has been transformed through new investment and has advanced its competitive position within the sector with significant expansion in its core market and recently entered the chilled products market with new processing technologies. The customer base comprises the mainstream food retailers and food service outlets and distributors where it continues to enjoy brand dominance where the Clarence Court brand is the leading premium egg brand. Demand for egg products continues to grow whilst the supply side remains in a state of flux with caged egg in decline in response to retailers positioning of egg to a higher welfare status that provides an opportunity for strategic expansion of our owned farming estate.

The business is looking to continue to build on existing strong retailer relationships, enhance its strong branded reputation with further innovative egg branding, optimise on egg packing performance and extend customer and product development in its developing cooked egg processing business.

What you’ll be doing

Reporting to the Exec, the Finance Director will identify and drive operational improvement through analysis of financial plans, management information and performance. Leading and coaching a strong finance team of c11 FTE, the Finance Director will strive for financial excellence, ensuring that the financial platform is appropriate for the challenges facing the organisation, underpinned by highly effective systems and processes.

Markets remain volatile and the expectation given the macroeconomic headlines is that this will continue for the mid-term. It is paramount that both the external and internal management systems are robust to support the necessary decision making to ensure the financial performance of the business can sustain external shocks. The immediate priority is to ensure the current internal IT projects, nearing completion, provide the finance function with accurate and timely information to provide the leadership team with the financial information to drive decision making and that the financial control environment and internal controls underpin these requirements.

As the business enters a new and exciting phase of development the incumbent is expected to be a key driver in evaluating strategic options, developing financial strategies, conducting feasibility studies, engaging with and gaining confidence and support of the leadership team whilst ensuring the business follows the requisite financial strategies supported by external financiers.

About You

The successful candidate must possess a relevant accounting qualification, ACMA/ACA and gained in depth experience in the manufacturing and processing industries in the FMCG sector and ideally with major food retailing exposure. Managing in a high-volume low margin environment there is a need for prompt, reliable and accurate management and financial information together with a collaborative approach with the IT team to developing advanced control systems. This is a fast paced environment and the candidate must have strong organisational and management skills in this high impact role to ensure the finance function can help drive the business through the next period of growth.

All third party application will be forwarded to Coyne & Associates for consideration.