As the first COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 took hold, the Mitie treasury team – led by group treasurer David Forbes – made a seamless pivot to home working and quickly recommended a deferral of HMRC payments to create an initial liquidity buffer. From that point on, it was a case of spinning multiple plates.
The six-person team engineered a refinancing of the company’s £250m revolving credit facility and agreed COVID-19-related covenant amendments to its US private placement debt. Those tasks both hinged upon a £201m rights issue, which demanded significant treasury input.
With Mitie in the process of acquiring the support services unit of Interserve, the team addressed due diligence exercises and carried out a valuation of the target business for the board. Integrating the purchase with the funding workstreams required careful stakeholder management.
To lay the groundwork for a smooth closure, the team agreed replacement guarantee facilities to cover existing performance bonds and scheduled the unit’s cash management framework for a day-one transfer.
In broader operational and cash management work, the team delivered on a range of issues arising from COVID-19 – from setting up emergency purchasing card accounts and extending credit limits to shifting the firm’s daily liquidity systems to accommodate deposits for the first time. The team also rolled out its automated client-debt report to more than 500 users across the firm, providing staff with an early-warning system on potential credit risk.
At the same time, the team continued to deliver on key process improvements, such as renewing its treasury management system provider contract and transitioning away from spreadsheets for cash management tasks.
Throughout the year, the treasury team supported continuous professional development (CPD), with 50% of its personnel working towards Association of Corporate Treasurers qualifications (the remainder were already at least AMCT). Team members also worked towards constructing an accredited CPD programme for Mitie’s wider finance community.
Despite a surging workload and COVID-19-related challenges, the team has maintained high morale and a supportive spirit, embodied in daily team check-in calls and a willingness to help each other out.
“Team development, process improvement, healthy ways of working, refinancing, liquidity management, a rights issue – a bold and comprehensive performance across several important fronts.”