The Business
A lighting specialist providing specialist services to the events and entertainment industry.
The Business Challenge
RSM Tenon were approached for advice in 1986 by a one-man start-up business with a white van and a growing headache. He had tapped into a niche market for specialist lighting and had become a victim of his own success.
He had made £10,000 from his work lighting gigs ‘on the road’ for rock groups. More profitably, he had learned that the supply of electrical equipment to the industry was inefficient and outdated. Our client ploughed his profit into buying new lighting equipment to rent out. The contracts began to come in, and soon he was contacting RSM Tenon asking: ‘Where do I go from here?’
RSM Tenon Approach
Our clients vision was to provide rentable modern, easy-to-use lighting equipment, securely packaged and delivered on time to locations throughout the world. It was basic good customer service, providing clients with what they wanted when they needed it, with the renting factor removing capital outlay, insurance and storage problems for venues and technicians.
RSM Tenon helped create the incorporated business and even provided its first finance director; the RSM Tenon name underpinning the credibility and stability of the young company, helping it grow and finally become an attractive acquisition for a US giant.
The Result
Contracts to light the Hammersmith Odeon and pop promo videos led to TV documentaries and commercials. Lighting equipment was soon being used on Spice Girls – The Movie, three 007 Bond movies, Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter blockbusters.
Double-digit growth was handled skilfully with RSM Tenon advising on a myriad of business challenges from invoicing to venture capital, process accounting to marketing, and from corporate taxation to staff recruitment – the team growing to 140 people within ten years.
RSM Tenon was there to help when operations were set up in Europe, South Africa and Australia. Earlier this year, RSM Tenon was also instrumental in helping sell the business to the US-based Panavision company for a significant seven-figure sum.
Client quote
“RSM Tenon helped me agree a business plan was and ensured we held regular monthly meetings. These were sacrosanct, no-one missed them and we discussed everything fully, with continual review of the numbers so that we could make well-informed decisions. The relationship developed over a number of years and RSM Tenon then helped me sell the business at a great price.”