Liquidity & Working Capital | Turning Cash Pressure into Control

Liquidity & Working Capital Executive
for Critical Industrial Situations

I step in when owners, boards and investors need control, pace and measurable impact —
in liquidity pressure, working capital dislocation, cash-critical situations and financial stabilisation phases.

Not an advisor. Accountable for execution.

CEO · COO · Chief Restructuring Officer · Executive Mandates
Liquidity · Working Capital · Cash Control · Financial Stabilisation · Performance Recovery

Liquidity & Working Capital.
Turning Cash Pressure Back Into Control.

When markets decline, material prices rise sharply, customers delay call-offs or financing partners require reliable answers, the business plan is no longer the decisive reference point.

Cash is.

I support companies in stressed liquidity situations where analysis alone is not enough: making the real cash position visible, reassessing working capital in the context of a changed reality, setting priorities and steering execution until financial control and operational stability are restored.

Assessment. Stabilisation concept. Execution. Steering until control is restored.

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Restoring Control When Reporting Is No Longer Enough.

Liquidity pressure rarely comes from a single trigger. It becomes critical when several developments converge at the same time: markets turn faster than expected, costs rise, customers become more cautious, inventories absorb cash, suppliers adjust terms and banks expect reliable transparency.

At this point, management does not need another report. It needs a decision framework it can act on.

Liquidity is tested against reality: available funds, critical weeks, robust assumptions, external cash drivers and credible scenarios.
At the same time, tied-up working capital is reassessed: what protects the business, what blocks room to manoeuvre and which decisions must
be taken without unnecessarily weakening customer relationships, delivery capability or the future position of the company.

This assessment becomes a focused stabilisation path: clear priorities, aligned responsibilities, disciplined progress tracking and credible communication with management, shareholders, banks and key partners.

The focus is not on isolated metrics.

The focus is moving the company from reaction back to control.

How I Restore Control When Cash Becomes the Constraint.

Liquidity pressure does not need another reporting layer. It needs a cash fact base that can be trusted, decisions that can be defended, and execution discipline until the business is back under control.

Not a working-capital exercise. A control intervention.

Expose the Cash Line

Forecast comfort is replaced by liquidity reality —
critical weeks, available funds and decisions that cannot wait.

What matters is no longer what was planned,
but which measures remain viable under real cash pressure.

Re-underwrite Tied-Up Capital

Capital is separated into what protects the business and
what only preserves yesterday’s assumptions.

This reveals where liquidity remains operationally tied up
without sufficiently supporting stability,
delivery capability or performance.

Translate Market Pressure into Cash Impact

Market decline, material inflation and delayed call-offs are converted
into a clear view of liquidity exposure.

External disruption is not merely managed,
but converted into concrete priorities and
steering decisions for the business.

Create Bankable Options

Owners, lenders and management get credible choices:
preserve, pause, fund, renegotiate or stop.

The result is a set of options that withstand time pressure,
financing constraints and operational reality.

Drive the Control Rhythm

Priorities, escalation and communication are led until
liquidity control holds inside the business.

The operating cadence creates transparency,
accountability and decision capability through to execution.

Case Insight: When the Order Book Stopped Protecting Cash.

Machinery & plant engineering | approx. €50m revenue | 400 employees | Interim CRO/CFO role

In machinery and plant engineering, a strong order book can create false comfort. Materials are committed early, cash is released through milestones, and delivery depends on customer readiness, acceptance and project progress.

A machinery and plant engineering company came under acute liquidity pressure after a sudden market reset. Customers delayed call-offs and site readiness. Material prices rose sharply. Supplier terms tightened. Engineered-to-order projects absorbed cash in work in progress and inventory.

The backlog still looked defensible. The cash trajectory did not.

I stepped in as interim CRO/CFO to restore control. Project cash curves, milestone billing, material commitments, inventory positions and funding assumptions were re-underwritten against the new reality.

The work focused on five moves: identify critical cash weeks by project, secure billable milestones and acceptances, release non-critical tied-up capital, sequence supplier and funding decisions, and align management, owners and lenders around one credible path.

Result:
Liquidity became visible by week, by project and by decision. Management moved from competing assumptions to one shared cash reality. Critical deliveries were protected. Non-essential cash uses were stopped. Owners and financing partners received a credible path forward.

The business moved from reaction back to control.

Dr. Alexander Toussaint
Industrial Transformation Executive

“Transformation becomes real only when someone owns the outcome.”

I step in where complexity, pressure and execution risk converge — in carve-outs, restructurings, ownership transitions and operational transformations.

For more than 20 years, I have led change at the intersection of technology, strategy and execution — as CEO, COO, CRO, board-level leader and executive on mandate.

Led complex carve-outs, turnarounds and transitions through critical phases
Assumed P&L and transformation responsibility in sizeable industrial businesses
Reshaped international multi-site operating structures
Led buy-side and sell-side M&A processes
Trusted by private equity, corporate groups and family-owned businesses

Since 2019, I have served as an independent executive on mandate — where analysis ends and execution decides, and decisions become structures that endure.