
RB
PROFESSIONALS

Retail and Wholesale Professionals
Combining nearly half a century of retail experience at executive level, we design strategies to help our clients free up working capital and improve performance, profitability, and cash flow. We understand the uniqueness of being a South African wholesaler or retailer. Our services are tailored through first-hand experience of the South African retail landscape. As business professionals, we operate from a business background and provide strategy and operational advice to our clients on financial and risk management, business efficiency, and assist in navigating the minefield of leases or identifying suitable premises. Our advisory services provide solutions and strategies that are tailored to your specific business, competitive position, industry, and cash flow to enable you to better achieve your operational and financial goals.

Business Rescue Services
We specialise in navigating the Business Rescue Process, whether you’re considering entering Business Rescue, managing a business while under Business Rescue, or are a Supplier seeking advice while your working capital is being ring fenced by Business Rescue Practitioners.
- Businesses Considering Business Rescue: We advise shareholders and business owners on the process, possible alternatives, and outcomes from a commercial, practical, and legal perspective.
- Managing a Business Under Business Rescue: With over 50 years of experience in managing businesses, we have the expertise and skills to manage a business while under business rescue. We investigate the affairs of distressed businesses with the aim of supporting creditors and employee meetings, as well as the drafting and implementing a Business Rescue Plan.
- Advising Suppliers during the Business Rescue Process: We are well-versed in the intricacies of doing business with a company under Business Rescue. Whether suppliers want to continue supplying the business during rescue or need to seize supply, we provide guidance on the most beneficial terms. Additionally, we assist suppliers during creditors’ meetings and evaluate the viability of the Business Plan presented by the business rescue practitioners, ensuring that other potentially beneficial options are not overlooked.

Retail and Wholesale Advisory Services
Our solutions are designed to optimise inventory management, ranging, and demand planning throughout your business. Our roots and core strengths cover every aspect of retailing and wholesaling. At heart, we are traders with almost half a century of retail experience. We are obsessive about cash flow and excel at providing our clients with a competitive advantage while considering the very real need to free working capital by eliminating dead, obsolete, and slow-moving stock.
- Optimized Inventory Management: Streamline your inventory processes to ensure that you have the right products in the right quantities at the right time, minimizing costs and maximizing sales opportunities.
- Enhanced Ranging: Tailor your product range to meet market demands and customer preferences, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
- Improved Demand Planning: Use advanced analytics to predict future product demands, allowing for more accurate stock levels and reduced instances of overstocking or stockouts.
- Comprehensive Retail and Wholesale Expertise: Benefit from nearly 50 years of experience in retailing and wholesaling, providing you with insights and strategies that only come with time.
- Trader’s Insight: Leverage the deep trading knowledge that comes from being in the business for almost half a century, giving you an edge over competitors.
- Cash Flow Management: Focus on maintaining a healthy cash flow, which is essential for the smooth operation and growth of your business.
- Competitive Advantage: Gain an upper hand in the market by utilizing strategies and solutions that are designed to outperform competitors.
- Working Capital Liberation: Free up working capital by efficiently managing and eliminating non-performing stock, such as dead, obsolete, and slow-moving items.
- Stock Health Improvement: Regularly review and refresh your inventory to keep it healthy and aligned with current market trends.
- Customer-Centric Approach: Adopt a customer-first strategy that focuses on meeting and exceeding customer expectations, fostering long-term relationships.

Financial & Risk Management Advisory Services
A business can only thrive if the back-office provides accurate and timely management information. An effective back office must be a seamless link between all departments in your business to improve your bottom line. Our Financial & Risk Management Advisory Services focus on business outcomes and are pivotal in achieving significant risk and cost reductions while also improving transparency and efficiency. Our team can evaluate your back-office efficiency, control environments, assist with investigations, internal auditing, determine the actual cost of capital, and identify cost-saving opportunities. We provide advice on outcome-based reporting that facilitates real-time decision-making.
- Accurate Management Information: Ensure that the information provided by the back-office is precise and timely, which is crucial for the overall success of the business.
- Seamless Department Integration: Create a cohesive environment where all departments are interconnected, leading to a more unified and efficient operation.
- Improved Bottom Line: By focusing on effective back-office operations, see a direct positive impact on the company’s profitability.
- Risk and Cost Reduction: Achieve significant savings by identifying and mitigating risks, and reducing unnecessary costs.
- Enhanced Transparency: Gain clearer insights into business operations, which can build trust with stakeholders and facilitate better decision-making.
- Increased Efficiency: Streamline processes to eliminate waste and redundancy, leading to a more agile and responsive organisation.
- Back-Office Evaluation: Receive a thorough assessment of your back-office’s efficiency and control environments to identify areas for improvement.
- Investigative Support: Benefit from expert assistance in conducting investigations to ensure compliance and integrity within the business.
- Internal Auditing: Have an objective evaluation of your financial and operational activities to ensure they meet the set standards.
- Cost of Capital Analysis: Understand the true cost of capital to make more informed financial decisions.
- Cost-Saving Identification: Discover new opportunities to save costs without compromising on quality or service.
- Outcome-Based Reporting: Implement reporting mechanisms that focus on outcomes, allowing for more dynamic and effective decision-making.
- Real-Time Decision Making: Adapt quickly to changing market conditions with advice that supports immediate and informed decisions.

Business Efficiency Advisory Services
There are pivotal moments in the life cycle of every business when improving efficiency is not an option, but essential for its very survival. Whether you need to streamline your business by closing, disposing, merging non-performing or non-core divisions, or are considering a merger with or acquisition of another business, we have the expertise to assist in identifying all available options and facilitate decision-making to ensure the most favourable business outcome.
- Essential Efficiency Improvements: Recognise and implement necessary changes to enhance efficiency, which is vital for the survival and growth of the business.
- Streamlining Operations: Expert guidance on consolidating operations by closing, disposing, or merging non-performing or non-core divisions to focus on profitable areas.
- Merger & Acquisition Support: Provide comprehensive support and insights for businesses considering mergers or acquisitions to expand or diversify their operations.
- Strategic Decision-Making: Assist in evaluating all possible options to make strategic decisions that align with the company’s long-term goals.
- Favourable Business Outcomes: Ensure that the decisions made lead to the most beneficial outcomes for the business, maximising returns and positioning for success.
- Expertise at Critical Moments: Leverage deep expertise to navigate pivotal moments in the business lifecycle, turning challenges into opportunities.
- Cost-Efficiency Analysis: Conduct thorough analyses to identify cost-saving measures without compromising on quality or business objectives.
- Risk Management: Minimise risks associated with major operational changes, ensuring a smooth transition and stable future.
- Operational Excellence: Achieve a higher level of operational excellence by eliminating inefficiencies and reinforcing core business strengths.
- Future-Proofing the Business: Prepare the business for future challenges by building a robust and efficient operational framework.

Premises and Lease Advisory Services
The most significant overhead for most retailers is rental and related costs, e.g., Cost of Occupation. These costs have been spiralling out of control since the advent of below-inflation GDP growth and increased loadshedding. As retailers, we have negotiated with most of the major property owners in South Africa and know their individual styles. We are familiar with new developments, existing centres, and the various strategies deployed by property owners to fill centres. Our Premises and Lease Advisory Services are designed to assist in identifying footprint gaps, ensuring increased market share. For new premises, we consider your individual circumstances and the rental concessions required as a result of operating in a low-growth environment, burdened by loadshedding. Our services for existing leases are tailormade to assist in re-negotiating existing leases or renewals and are based on the South African growth and electricity realities that may have been very different when you initially concluded the lease. We know that a bad lease can break a business.
- Control Overhead Costs: Tackle the spiraling Cost of Occupation by leveraging expert negotiation skills to secure favorable rental terms.
- Expert Negotiation with Property Owners: Utilize intimate knowledge of major property owners’ styles in South Africa to negotiate beneficial lease agreements.
- Market Share Expansion: Identify footprint gaps and secure new premises that contribute to an increased market share.
- Customized Rental Concessions: Obtain rental concessions that reflect the challenges of operating in a low-growth environment affected by loadshedding.
- Tailormade Lease Renegotiation: Receive personalized assistance in renegotiating existing leases to better align with current economic and electricity supply realities.
- Risk Mitigation: Protect your business from the adverse effects of a bad lease by ensuring terms are favourable and sustainable.
- Informed Decision-Making: Make well-informed decisions regarding premises and leases, backed by comprehensive knowledge of the market and property strategies.
- Adaptation to Economic Changes: Adjust lease terms to reflect changes in South Africa’s economic growth and electricity landscape since the original lease agreement.
- Strategic Lease Management: Strategically manage leases to ensure they contribute positively to the business’s financial health.
- Business Continuity and Growth: Secure the foundation for ongoing business operations and future growth through effective lease management.