Aidan Condie is the principal of Collingwood Management and is responsible for all work undertaken by the company. Aidan has been involved in improving the performance of industrial companies since 1973, when he was involved in trouble shooting work within Dunlop Industrial Group and then Unilever. His first full turnaround came in 1985, when he managed the finance and logistics functions of a bulk fluid movement company.

Collingwood Management was formed in 1991, and traded for two months before Aidan Condie (proprietor) was head hunted to be director of the Capetronic UK, the $240m European division of the Capetronic Group. Aidan restored the European company to profit shortly after joining. But in 1993 the Capetronic Group was sold to the Ho family in Hong Kong, the European operation became managed from China. Aidan Condie then re-started the Collingwood business that has traded continuously since then.

Collingwood specialises in improving the commercial performance of client companies. It operates across all sectors and all sizes of company, although the bulk of clients are in the £5m to £50m turnover range. All client-facing work is undertaken by Aidan Condie or Julie Rowlands. The normal level of involvement is on a two day a week basis, but this can vary with the stage and requirements of the project and the size and complexity of the firm.

Collingwood has had almost 70 clients to date, and has two types of client:

• Clients with temporary financial problems and
• Clients who are undergoing a period of exceptional growth and/or change

It is not uncommon for companies with short term financial or operational problems to improve commercial performance to the extent that a loss making firm will make 10% pre-tax profit on revenue.

For firms seeking or experiencing exceptional growth, Collingwood helps clients design and implement systems and organisational structures appropriate to their needs.