Trading margin
Does the spread survive haulage, handling, yard time and management attention?
Diagnostic engagementFixed fee, agreed first
Find out which numbers you can trust.
We review the trading, stock, transport, cash and reports you already use. You get a clear view of what holds up and what needs attention.
Right for you if…
- Owner-managed UK scrap, recycling and waste businesses.
- Yards where a wrong grade or route decision costs real money.
- Owners who suspect the headline margin is misleading.
- Teams whose finance, stock and transport reports do not agree.
- Businesses testing a major trade, system or site decision.
Not right for you if…
- Statutory accounts, audit, tax or payroll.
- Guaranteed savings or returns.
- Insolvency or restructuring advice.
- Software implementation before the problem is understood.
- Businesses unable to share records or a few hours of staff time.
An enquiry commits you to nothing. If this is not the right service, we will say so.
Six questions, asked properly.
The review is organised around decisions, not around a list of deliverables.
Stock confidence
Do the records match what is physically in the yard?
Transport
Is haulage visible before the deal is agreed?
Yard capacity
Which material uses space and plant that could earn more elsewhere?
Working capital
Where is cash tied up, and what does that stop you buying next?
Management information
Do reports arrive in time to change a decision?
Where the margin actually goes.
Seven pressures act on every deal between the buy and the bank. Work through them.
Purchase price
What did it cost to get the material through the gate?
Effect on the return
Sets the floor. Every later cost is subtracted from a spread that is already fixed at this point.
What the review examines
How buying prices are set, who can vary them, and whether the person buying can see the full cost of servicing the deal.
Selling price
What was actually realised, after grading and deductions?
Effect on the return
Sets the headline spread — the number most yards judge a deal on, and the last one that looks this good.
What the review examines
Realised prices against expected, the size and frequency of deductions, and how disputes and re-grades are recorded.
Haulage
Was the cost of moving it visible before the deal was agreed?
Effect on the return
Takes a bite that varies by route, load and backhaul. Often the first cost to be averaged, and the first to mislead.
What the review examines
Route economics, whether transport cost is attributed to the deal or absorbed centrally, and how empty running is treated.
Handling and labour
How much yard work did this material need before it could leave?
Effect on the return
Consumes labour, plant and time. Rarely attributed to the deal that caused it, so it lands on the yard as a whole.
What the review examines
Processing steps by grade, plant and operator time, and whether handling-heavy material is priced to reflect it.
Yard capacity
What else could that space and that hour have been used for?
Effect on the return
Finite. Material sitting in a bay is capacity denied to something else — a cost that never appears on any ledger.
What the review examines
Dwell time by grade, congestion at the points that actually constrain throughput, and what gets displaced.
Working capital
How long was cash tied up between paying out and being paid?
Effect on the return
Sets the pace the business can trade at. A good margin held too long still limits what you can buy next week.
What the review examines
The gap between payment out and cash in, stock held against forward positions, and the pressure points in the cycle.
True commercial return
After all of that, was this the best use of the business?
Effect on the return
What is left, and whether the capacity it consumed could have earned more somewhere else.
What the review examines
Whether the decision to take this trade again would be made on evidence, or on the headline spread alone.
This map explains which pressures we examine and how they relate. It calculates nothing and uses no figures — your numbers are the only ones that matter, and they are looked at during the review itself.
What we ask you for.
We only ask for records you already keep. Nothing needs to be rebuilt or re-keyed.
- Purchase and sales records for an agreed trading period
- To see the spread actually achieved.
- Haulage and transport records for the same period
- To connect transport cost to each deal.
- Period-end stock reports and any reconciliation working papers
- To test whether the stock figure can be trusted.
- Management accounts and whatever reporting pack already exists
- To see what current reports include and miss.
- A conversation with the owner, yard and transport team
- To compare the records with what actually happens.
How the review runs.
- 01
Agree the question
We agree what needs testing, what is in scope and the fixed fee before work starts.
- 02
Gather what already exists
We request only the existing records needed for the agreed scope.
- 03
Test the commercial picture
We connect the records to what material costs to buy, move, handle, hold and sell.
- 04
Separate assumption from evidence
We show which assumptions are supported by evidence and which are not.
- 05
Set the order of action
You get ranked actions: internal fixes, specialist work and anything not worth doing.
What you receive.
A written findings document
The question, evidence, findings and actions, written clearly for the owner.
A ranked action list
Each action is marked as an internal fix, scoped work or specialist work.
Explicit assumptions and boundaries
What the findings rely on, what was not reviewed and where the analysis stops.
A walkthrough conversation
We talk through the findings and answer your questions.
An example of the output.
A format example, not a client document. Every figure is redacted rather than invented, so nothing here can be mistaken for a result.
Illustrative document
Finance Health Check — Findings
Commercial question
Whether the grades taking the largest share of yard time were producing a return that justified the capacity they consumed — or whether that capacity was better used elsewhere.
Evidence reviewed
Records already used to run the business. Nothing was rebuilt or re-keyed for the review.
- Trading period examined
- redactedmonths
- Purchase and sales records
- redactedtransactions
- Haulage records
- redactedmovements
- Stock reports
- redactedperiod-end positions
- Management accounts
- redactedperiods
- Interviews
- redacted(owner, yard, transport)
Key finding
The headline spread on the highest-volume grade held up. The return after haulage, handling and dwell time did not — and the difference was wide enough to change which trades were worth taking. The gap appeared in none of the reports the business was already producing, because transport was absorbed centrally and handling time was never attributed to a grade.
Priority action
Attribute haulage and handling to the grade that caused them, before the next buying decision, starting with the two grades that consume the most yard time. This is a reporting change rather than a systems project, and can be done inside the records that already exist.
Assumptions and boundaries
Findings rest on the records provided and on what was described in interview. No stock count was performed and no valuation was carried out. This is commercial analysis — not audit, tax or regulated financial advice. No saving or return is claimed, promised or implied.
Illustrative format only. Not a client document, not a real engagement, and not evidence of any result. Figures are redacted rather than invented, so nothing here can be read as a claim.
What it explicitly is not.
The boundary matters as much as the scope. Work outside this list belongs with appropriately qualified professionals.
- No statutory accounts, audit, tax computation or filing.
- No regulated financial, investment or insurance advice.
- No stock count, physical inventory or asset valuation.
- No insolvency, restructuring or turnaround advice.
- No system implementation, data migration or software build.
- No guaranteed saving, margin improvement or recovery figure — none is calculated, promised or implied.
The fee
£2,500
Fixed. Agreed in writing before any work starts.
How the fee is set
The Finance Health Check is £2,500. The scope and fixed fee are agreed in writing before work starts. Nothing else is required afterwards. Any unusual scope is discussed before you commit.
How timing is agreed
Timing depends on the scope and when records are available. You get a date before you commit.
- A review across trading margin, stock, transport, yard capacity, cash and reporting.
- A written findings document you can act on without us.
- A ranked action list separating internal fixes from work needing specialist help.
- A walkthrough conversation where you get to argue with the conclusions.
What happens afterwards.
You act on it yourself
Most findings are internal fixes. There may be nothing else to buy.
A scoped piece of work
If a finding needs more work, it is scoped and quoted separately.
Ongoing support
Available only where the business genuinely needs continuity.
Nothing at all
If the problem is elsewhere or not worth fixing, we will say so.
26 years of accountancy and finance experience in UK scrap metal.
One person does the work, and you will know who.
The review is carried out by the person you speak to. There is no team of analysts behind the curtain, no work passed down to a junior, and no sales function between you and the person doing the thinking. That is the point of a practice this size.
Sector
UK scrap metal, recycling and waste — not a general practice that also takes scrap clients.
Direct contact
Enquiries go straight to the person who would do the work. Send one here
Start with the decision you cannot currently trust.
The person who does the work reads your enquiry. There is no sales team.
You will hear back within one working day. An enquiry commits you to nothing. If this is not the right service, we will say so.