Hilton Hotels

Hilton International, an operating division of UK-based hilton Group Plc with annual turnover of more than £3billion, operates 394 hotels in 78 countries around the world. a marketing alliance with hilton hotels Corporation extends the number of hotels to 2,500, with 500 being branded Hilton.

The Hilton Belfast is one of the city’s premier hotels, situated next door to the waterfront Conference Centre and close to the city centre. It comprises 195 bedrooms, 7 suites, meeting facilities for up to 450 delegates and a Livingwell health and fitness centre.

Hilton International is always seeking ways to reduce costs while improving the standards and facilities in its hotels. With this in mind, Stephen Close, Financial Director for the Hilton Belfast, met Analyst John McGowan to investigate areas of expenditure which may yield savings. During their initial meeting John was able to show how the North Value Improvement Programme could be used to review strategic and non-strategic expenditure at Hilton to ensure it was receiving best value for money.

Stephen was impressed by the North payment by results proposition and with the constant threat of increased oil and gas prices, especially in the Hotel industry, he engaged us to analyse expenditure on fuel at Hilton Belfast. John McGowan agreed to conduct the review and invited third-party experts Brendan Byrne and Mike Daly to assist him.

Stephen explains, “As with all hotels the expenditure on heating and hot water is significant, in Belfast’s case over £40,000 pa. John and his team explained they had previously developed boiler management systems that were tuned to hotels’ unique patterns of high usage in the mornings and evenings. John also guaranteed that there would be no interruptions to the hotel’s business operations, equipment or systems and so I commissioned North to conduct a 6- month pilot at the Hilton Belfast.”

We introduced a technology to Hilton Belfast which was designed to make the boilers run more efficiently and, after trialling the technology for a period of 6 months, John and his team were able to present and prove their recommendations to the Hilton Hotel Group. They reported average projected savings of over 20% per room sold to be spread over a period of 12 months, when taking into account varying external temperatures over this time period which impact upon usage rates.

The results have been so promising that it has now been agreed with Hilton International’s headquarters in Watford, London, to extend the initiative to make it available to the rest of Hilton’s UK hotels.

Mount Charles Catering

Mount Charles Catering, with its Head Office based in Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland, is one of the most formidable and respected companies within Contract Catering industry across the length and breadth of Ireland.

This family owed business was established in 1988 and has grown into a £15 Million turnover company and is recognised for its proactive approach to client care. Mount Charles Catering are constantly seeking ways in which to reduce their business expenditure whilst maintaining and improving Quality and Service standards.

With this in mind John McGowan met with Finance Director Cathal Geoghegan to investigate categories which may lead to potential savings. During their initial meeting John was able to demonstrate how the North Value Improvement Programme could be used to review strategic and non strategic expenditure to ensure that Mount Charles was receiving best value for money from its current suppliers. Cathal explains “sourcing alternative suppliers has become increasingly difficult due to stringent Quality and Service requirements, when another option was introduced to Mount Charles I subsequently engaged the services of Specialist Cost Auditors to analysis our Banking and Insurance requirements.”

John McGowan then asked Third Party Expert Ian Anderson to assist him to investigate business costs in more detail through a series of cost reduction exercises. The North team set to work with on site data collection, analysis and tendering. The conclusion of this process resulted in significant savings being achieved for Mount Charles. Specialist Cost Auditors was able to deliver considerable savings by the manner in which Mount Charles’s Banking requirements were restructured.

Through completing their standard health check and reviewing the Interest Charges North demonstrated a financial return of at least £80,000. In the meantime John had approached Third Party Expert Mike Daly to act as Facilitator for North on behalf of Mount Charles to conduct a full review of Mount Charles’s Insurance policy and associated costs. The completion of this tender analysis by North brought about savings of £30,000. This not only introduced Mount Charles to a new Insurance provider but also made available an insurance concept to them that had not previously been presented; which resulted in Mount Charles making further significant savings with regards to their Insurance Premiums.

McClure Watters

McClure Watters is a leading independent firm of Chartered accountants, Business advisors and Management Consultants. Established in 1989 with a growing number of clients, the five partner firm has grown steadily with a current staff of over sixty. The firm is based in Belfast city centre and currently has clients throughout Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

North Analyst John McGowan, himself based in Belfast, initially approached John Hansen of McClure Watters and explained his intention to help their clients to maximise profitability by reviewing and reducing their expenditure levels. John Hansen could see the benefits of introducing North to McClure Watters’ clients and John McGowan was subsequently invited to present the concept of North to a Partner’s meeting. John McGowan took the opportunity to explain how North could be offered as a value-added service to McClure Watters’ clients, alongside its own core service offerings. The Partners were impressed by North’s no-savings, no-fee proposition as it means North carries all of the risk; and by the fact that the majority of projects undertaken by North produce significant savings for clients.

The Partners agreed that John McGowan should review some of McClure Watters’ own cost areas to prove the effectiveness of North’s offering and its ability to achieve results. John analysed expenditure on office stationery and computer consumables and achieved a saving in excess of 20%. Following the success of these projects, John McGowan was introduced to one of McClure Watters main clients. The company invited him to review its packaging, engineering consumables, stationery and freight costs. John set to work and his subsequent recommendations have achieved more than £100,000 of savings. John has also recently looked at raw materials costs for the same company.

The analysis work proved that the company was already buying at best value from their present supplier and John and his colleagues were therefore able to confirm to the client that this was the case. John Hansen of McClure Watters concludes: “John and his North colleagues have been extremely professional in their dealings with McClure Watters and our clients to date. I cannot fault the North service. Even when a saving cannot be achieved, it is great to be given the peace of mind that you are already achieving best value and I know our clients will appreciate this. We are now looking forward to this relationship developing further in the hope that more and more of our clients can benefit from the North service.”

Portview Construction

Portview Construction, with its head office based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is one of the most experienced and well recognised shopfitting companies in the UK, with extensive business operations across the country. The company is renowned from within its industry and large number of clients for its proactive and professional approach to client care and quality.

Portview Construction is constantly seeking ways to reduce expenditure whilst improving quality and standards within its own set up. With this in mind, Portview’s Finance Director Simon Campbell met with North Consultant John McGowan to investigate categories of expenditure which may yield savings. During their initial meeting John was able to show how the North Value Improvement Programme could be used to review Portview’s strategic and non-strategic expenditure to ensure it was receiving best value from its suppliers. Simon was impressed by the North payment by results proposition, particularly at a time when profit margins are under regular and increasing attack. Simon explains: “Sourcing alternative suppliers within the building industry has become increasingly difficult due to stringent quality and service requirements. I am also keenly aware of the need to control and reduce costs and for these reasons it made sense to engage North.”

Simon Campbell subsequently engaged North to analyse expenditure in building materials, insurance and bank fees to provide him with an independent review on the quality of the existing suppliers and to benchmark pricing against the industry standard. John McGowan agreed to conduct the review and invited third party expert Roy Shepheard to assist him in undertaking a series of cost reduction exercises to investigate business costs in more detail. The North team set to work with on-site data collection, analysis, benchmarking and tendering. After negotiating and implementation had been agreed, the results that the North team achieved were quite significant. In building materials savings in excess of £100,000 on an annual basis were achieved through the introduction of a national supplier.

This company has introduced technology to Portview which has enabled them quicker and more efficient access to data, and has also cut down on unnecessary paperwork. Meanwhile, John approached North Insurance Team on behalf of Portview and asked them to conduct a full review of the company’s insurance policy and associated costs achieving savings of 12% on the existing premium offer.

The North banking experts reviewed the company’s banking requirements concluding that Portview was already receiving best value in this area and he was able to give Simon independent assurance that this was the case. Simon is delighted with the results achieved so far and comments: “North, with it’s wealth of supplier and pricing knowledge, has been an invaluable resource to our organisation. The North team took great care in understanding our needs and, for each area of expenditure we asked them to review, undertook a thorough analysis.”