Bonnie Hodson, CFO for the hardware specialist UAP, has been shortlisted to win a Finance Director of the Year award, as part of the Finance Awards North West recognition scheme. She was nominated by the business’ relationship director at HSBC, Josh Garrigan.
Bonnie is one of seven finalists for the Finance Director of the Year (less then £50m turnover) category. Since Bonnie’s appointment as CFO, UAP has since grown from sales of £11.1m for the 2017 financial year to a turnover £20.6m for the 2022 financial year. The company’s strategy is to grow both organically and through acquisition.
Within just five years, Bonnie has been instrumental in the acquisition of a complementary business for UAP, and the acquisition of another business out of administration. She has also presided over the establishment of wholly foreign-owned UAP entities in the USA and China, and improved structures to enable further scalability.
As the company’s strategy shifted from growth to survival, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bonnie constructed a detailed financial plan. she also rephased supplier payments, secured support for an additional £1m stock financing facility, and helped the company to diversify as a supplier of PPE.
Bonnie’s nomination also recognises her achievements beyond the company’s balance sheet. A key part of her remit has been to evolve UAP from a small company mindset to an ambitious enterprise, without losing the culture that has made it so successful for the past 25 years. She explained: “Changes at a strategic level have been fundamental to changing the mindset of the business and the people within it, who are all so critical to our continued success as we accelerate our growth. That’s why, in the summer of 2019, we set up a growth share scheme, which means every single employee in the company now owns a share of the business, and benefits from its future success. These shares are earned and cannot be purchased, with 20% of the UAP share fund now owned by our employees.
“We have also recently added a company-wide bonus scheme for all employees, linked to business performance and KPIs, to reward our team as we grow the business. Staff morale and motivation are critical to realising the potential of any business and, as CFO, I believe a big part of my role is leveraging the value of our people, not just crunching the numbers.”
The Finance Awards North West winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Old Trafford Football Stadium on Thursday 12 May. David Jennings, CEO of UAP, said: “We are very proud of Bonnie, as a finalist in these awards and also for everything she has achieved since joining UAP.
“In everything she does, she constantly considers all stakeholders in the business, helping to nurture a cohesive and diplomatic working environment that facilitates growth. The transparency, inclusion and good corporate governance she has developed have helped to encourage staff involvement and buy in as we grow, fuelling our continued success.”
