About
An excerpt will appear in here and should be short whilst also descriptive
Context
Fichtner Consulting Engineers is the UK arm of the Fitchner Group, a family-owned international engineering organisation headquartered in Stuttgart that employs around 2,500 people across roughly 120 offices worldwide. Founded in 1991, the UK business built its early reputation as a niche specialist in energy-from-waste projects before expanding across the wider renewable energy sector: solar, grid connections, battery storage, hydrogen, tidal and the emerging field of carbon capture.
From its head office in Stockport, with satellite offices in Glasgow and Belfast and a subsidiary near Dublin, Fitchner employs just under 200 people, the majority of them chartered engineers. Around 98% of its work is generated in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
The business has grown substantially. Turnover has risen by roughly 50% over three years, and that success generated a healthy and growing cash position. Fichtner began working with Simpson Wood in 2016. As the relationship deepened it came to also encompass how the company manages its money.
The underlying challenge
On the surface, Fichtner had a good problem to have: a successful, profitable business. that was generating significant surplus cash. The real challenge was making that cash work rather than letting it sit idle in a company bank account.
From around 2019, the company found itself holding substantial reserves over and above its day-to-day operating needs. Some was distributed to shareholders, including the parent company, but a meaningful surplus remained. Bank deposit accounts offered such low interest rates that there seemed little point. The cash was effectively languishing, earning minimal returns while the business grew around it.
Underlying any decision-making around this was a question of fit and trust. As a finance team focused on running a fast-growing consultancy, Fichtner needed an adviser who genuinely understood the markets, could explain decisions clearly, and would treat the company’s hard-won reserves with the diligence they deserved.
What was at stake?
For a business growing as quickly as Fichtner, surplus cash earning next to nothing represented a real missed opportunity: profits the firm had worked hard for were sitting still rather than contributing to its future.
Getting an investment approach wrong, however, carried its own risks. The finance team needed reassurance that reserves would be managed prudently, that risk would be properly understood, and that performance would stand up to scrutiny.
Equally, this was about freeing the leadership to focus. The finance function’s energy was better spent supporting the growth of the business than worrying about idle cash or trying to navigate investment markets without expert guidance.
Our approach
When Fichtner raised the question of how to make better use of its surplus cash, Simpson Wood was able to introduce its financial services and investment expertise as a natural extension of the existing relationship.
Rather than a generic product pitch, the approach started with understanding the business: how much cash was genuinely surplus to day-to-day requirements, what the company wanted from it, and how much risk was appropriate. From there, a corporate investment account was established to put those reserves to work.
The relationship has been built on clarity and confidence. Fichtner’s team are confident in the deep knowledge and drive to perform that comes from Simpson Wood’s investment team and appreciate their ability to explain the markets in plain terms. Regular financial-markets updates, delivered as part of the firm’s quarterly workshops, help the team and wider staff make sense of the headlines and understand what market movements really mean for them, taking the worry out of the ups and downs.
Key Decisions
A number of decisions shaped how Fichtner’s surplus cash is now managed:
- Recognising that growing reserves were sitting idle in low-interest bank accounts.
- Distinguishing genuinely surplus cash from the funds needed for day-to-day operations.
- Opening a corporate investment account with Simpson Wood to put that surplus to work.
- Agreeing an investment approach matched to the company’s appetite for risk and its objectives.
- Building in regular markets updates and clear communication, so the finance team and wider staff understand how funds are being managed.
These decisions allowed the company to put its capital to work steadily and prudently, rather than leaving it dormant.
Outcome
Fichtner’s surplus cash is now working for the business rather than sitting idle, and the company has confidence in how its reserves are being managed.
In practice, this has meant:
- A corporate investment account that puts surplus cash to work, generating a return well beyond what would be offered by a standard business bank account.
- Performance that has held up well through market ups and downs, despite a turbulent few years globally.
- Recognition from the group’s head office in Stuttgart of how well the UK business has managed and invested its surplus cash.
- Clear, regular communication that gives the finance team and wider staff genuine confidence in how the company’s money is being managed.
- Above all, Fichtner can concentrate on what it does best: delivering specialist engineering on complex renewable energy projects, reassured that its hard-earned reserves are being put to good use by an adviser it trusts.
It might end with something like this: the client now has a clear, joined-up view of their financial position, with decisions aligned across business, personal wealth and long-term planning. Importantly, they retained flexibility rather than committing to a fixed outcome too early.
Since opening a corporate investment account with Simpson Wood, our surplus cash is working for us rather than languishing in a bank account with very minimal returns. It’s held up well through all the ups and downs, and even our head office in Stuttgart has noticed how well we’ve managed and invested our cash. Shaun knows the markets inside and out and explains everything clearly. It’s been a really positive development for us.
Liz Edgley – Finance Director, Fichtner Consulting.