Desmond High BA, FCA, CF
Tel: 07976 426547
Email: desmond.high@emcltd.co.uk
Desmond is an experienced Chartered Accountant who qualified in 1979. Since leaving the accounting profession in 1992 he has enjoyed a successful freelance/portfolio career as part of the EMC team, and is the director of the Kent office.
Projects in which he has been involved are too many and varied to list but generally feature private business and financial management/direction, and/or corporate finance advice. He has acted as de facto CFO for many SMEs and dealt with any number of the finance and commercial issues that typically affect growing businesses.
As his Belbin profiling shows (see below), Desmond's particular strengths and expertise lie in identifying and shaping business strategy and in commercial project management.
In recent years he has managed the sale of businesses in the following sectors, helping to create several millionaires en route.
- Risk management software
- Digital imaging software
- Occupational health services
- PR services
- Specialist design and build
In each case he worked with groups of shareholders over an extended period, project managing the entire sale process from finding buyers, through deal negotiation to completion. Many of the transactions have involved a high degree of complexity - multiple shareholders with differing objectives, complex earn-outs, dealing with overseas or large PLC buyers and so on.
Here are just a few client testimonials that provide clear evidence of his success.
"I fully appreciate that without your advice, we'd have been chasing shadows on this deal."
"I can't thank you enough for your part in the process. I'm aware that we got exceptionally good value for money."
"The deal could have so easily floundered on a number of occasions, but your patience, attention to detail and past experience ensured that all parties stayed on track. We were particularly anxious that the purchaser's decision to retain large ‘big name' legal and accounting advisers could embarrass us. In the event your professionalism and command of your brief was more than a match for the other side".
Desmond was also a director and shareholder in a service sector franchise which grew from zero to 35 franchises during the period of his involvement. The business was successfully sold to a major PLC in November 2006.
In early 2007 he became one of the first people in Kent to be awarded the Institute of Chartered Accountants' Corporate Finance (CF) qualification, and in September of that year was shortlisted in the South East Dealmaker of the Year awards organised by The Business magazine.
In early 2008, Desmond and fellow EMC director Martin Stanton took over the management of a long-established but ailing £10m West Kent contracting business. In spite of significant surgery during the first half of 2008, the business was unable to survive both a sharp downturn in activity and a complete halt in incoming cash flow as major customers stopped paying. The company was placed in Administration in February 2009. Desmond and Martin were able to spin off profitable parts of the business and negotiated with the bank to allow the shareholders to retain the main property asset.
As part of this project, Desmond undertook Belbin profiling, a well known and authoritative psychometric tool for assessing aptitudes within a management structure. It resulted in the following key findings:
- A discriminating mind valuable at the planning stages of an operation
- Prefers to have some authority
- Has a capacity for self-motivation
- Combines modesty with a reluctance to make false claims
- Likely to thrive on confrontation and debate
- Possesses all-round leadership characteristics
- Has the features of a high profile manager
- Should thrive in a pressure environment where tough decisions have to be taken
Within a team structure he operates best as a:
- Co-ordinator (mature, confident, clarifies goals, brings people together to promote team discussions)
- Shaper (challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure, has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles)
- Monitor evaluator (serious minded, strategic and discerning, sees all options, judges accurately)
Desmond has presented regularly at seminars on the subject of funding growing businesses, and co-authored ‘A Commercial Guide to Management Buyouts' published by Business Link Kent in February 2003. He was also responsible for the concept and authoring of several of EMC's successful Ten Tips series (Successful Acquisitions and Disposals; Raising Venture Capital; and Developing a Better Business Plan). He has also developed an exit score chart which allows SME owners planning a disposal to assess saleability and valuation issues and identify a pre-sale action plan.
He is a member of the Institute of Directors, and a graduate of Common Purpose (West Kent 2006) and now a member of the Common Purpose Kent Advisory Board. He is also a Board member of Applause Rural Touring Limited, a not-for-profit business based in West Kent which promotes rural arts touring.
