Paul Cooper Fractional CEO, CFO & Board Advisor

EXECUTIVE POSITIONING

I work with a wide range of businesses from small start ups to listed multinational businesses ranging from £20m turnover to £1bn. The businesses include manufacturing, machinery sales and service, industrial servicing, precious metals refining, eCommerce, distribution (including providing 3PL service) and PR agencies.

Most of the businesses have been at a turning point: recovering from under-performance, needing a stronger leadership team, or preparing to grow, merge or be sold

A Chartered Accountant (ACA) and Managing Director with 20+ years leading UK and international businesses across Europe, the USA and Asia, I have held full P&L responsibility for businesses up to £960m turnover and teams of up to 275 people. I have led turnarounds and restructurings, and I have also grown businesses steadily over many years: building management teams, expanding into new markets and growing resilient After Sales income.

Specialist in:

  • Turnaround and restructuring of under-performing industrial businesses

  • Full P&L leadership across multi-site, international operations

  • Building management teams; decentralising and creating accountable regional leadership

  • Commercial and pricing strategy: structured sales, focused marketing and defined territories

  • Growing After Sales, Service and spare parts revenue

  • Market expansion: new subsidiaries, dealer networks and CRM

  • Cost-out, automation, make-vs-buy and 3PL transformation

  • Leading through economic cycles while keeping key talent

  • Merger, sale and exit preparation

I operate on a fractional / advisory basis, or through full-time interim MD/CEO/CFO mandates (typically 3–9 months), for turnaround and restructuring assignments and for longer-term improvement and growth roles.

SELECTED IMPACT

  • Led full P&L turnaround and restructuring of a £960m turnover, 275-staff business (Cookson Precious Metals), recommending and preparing its merger with a sister company

  • Turned Homag UK from a £700k loss to £240k profit in year one, then grew turnover from £14m to £36m significantly improving profitability. Lifted the profit earned from After Sales from 30% to 61%

  • Restructured a £40m Asia business (Elumatec Asia) into a decentralised structure with accountable subsidiary MDs and a new dealer network across Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Taiwan

  • Delivered 22% After Sales growth and exceeded order intake targets leading a 115-person UK subsidiary (Bystronic UK)

  • Set up two new international subsidiaries (Brazil & Mexico) as Regional CFO for DMG, doubling regional turnover from €50m to €100m+

  • Currently serving as COO of an international Commonwealth charity, alongside board advisory and NED roles

WHAT I DO FOR FOUNDERS, INVESTORS & BOARDS

  • Whether a business is in trouble or simply capable of more, I start by finding out fast what to keep, fix, grow or close, and I make the structural calls on product range, cost base, sites and pricing with the management team, not around them.

  • Where the situation is urgent, I stabilise quickly. Where the business is sound, I build: a structured sales approach, growing After Sales and Service income rather than relying on capital equipment cycles, real P&L accountability for subsidiaries and divisions, and KPIs so performance is visible and owned.

  • Turning around Homag UK and leading it for fourteen years, restructuring Elumatec’s Asia region, and leading Cookson through a restructuring review have given me experience across the full cycle, applied with a Chartered Accountant’s discipline on cash and margin.

CURRENT & RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

  • Queen Elizabeth II Commonwealth Trust – Interim Chief Operating Officer (fractional, c.2 days/week), Jul 2026–present. Leading all operational and financial matters for a global Commonwealth youth-leadership charity, with an international operational team reporting to this role

  • Interim Managing Director, £960m precious metals refining, manufacturing and eCommerce group (Cookson Precious Metals), Sept 2023–Apr 2026. Led a full restructuring review and improvement programme: automated manufacturing and logistics, set up a 3PL operation, took c.£1m out of cost and prepared the business for merger with a sister company

  • Interim Advisor to a PE Investor looking to buy a family owned software business. Supporting due diligence and deal structuring.

  • Board Advisor to a Production Agency in the clothing industry – Fazane Fox

  • Board Advisor to a start up PR agency in the Digital Currency space

  • Mentoring the founders on strategy, growth and financial management

BOARD & GOVERNANCE

  • ACA Qualified – Chartered Accountant

  • Deputy Chair, Board Member & Trustee, Willen Hospice – Chair, Income Generation Committee; Member, Finance and Audit Committee (2022–present)

  • 20+ years’ main board and subsidiary board-level experience, spanning both executive MD/CEO and CFO/FD seats, across UK, European, US and Asian businesses

  • Non-Executive and Board Advisory experience across charity, PE-backed and manufacturing sectors

AVAILABLE FOR:

  • Interim Managing Director / CEO and CFO mandates

  • Turnaround, restructuring and merger preparation, led from both an operational and financial perspective

  • NED and Trustee roles; Audit / Finance Committee chair or member

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