Fractional Strategy Office: Strategic Planning for Established Companies
By the time a company reaches £2 million in revenue, the constraint is rarely the absence of a plan. It is the absence of a planning function.
The annual away day produces a set of priorities. Six weeks later, a large customer renegotiates, an input cost moves, and the priorities quietly stop describing what the business is actually doing. Nobody decides to abandon the plan. It simply stops being consulted, because no cadence forces the leadership team back to it and no forecast is current enough to test it against.
SGI operates as a fractional strategy office. We run the planning cycle for companies that need the discipline of an in-house strategy and FP&A function but cannot justify the headcount to build one. That means a quarterly decision rhythm, a rolling financial forecast that updates monthly, a board pack that arrives before the meeting rather than during it, and analytical support between cycles for decisions that can not wait.
Book a Partnership Discovery Call. Sixty minutes, no obligation, and an honest answer on whether a retained partnership or a one-off project is the right shape for where you are.
This is not our business plan writing service
If you need a document because a bank, an investor, a grant assessor, or the Home Office has asked for one, that is a defined project with a defined endpoint. It is scoped, priced and delivered separately, and it starts at £750. See our Business Plan Writing service page.
This service is something different. It is an ongoing planning capability inside your business, where the audience for the output is your own board rather than a third party. Most companies need the document once. Companies at this stage need the capability permanently.
Who Delivers This Service
Engagements are led by Kurt Graver, Founder and Managing Director of SGI Consultants, an ACCA-qualified accountant with an MBA and a Certified Business Mentor with the IOEE. His 25-year career spans commerce, industry, and the public and third sectors, including VMware, Dell EMC, Network Rail, Transport for London, HMV, and Corus.
That background matters for companies at this stage. Planning at £20 million is not planning at £200,000 with bigger numbers. It requires someone who has worked inside organisations where capital allocation, governance and board reporting are formal disciplines, and who can then apply that rigour at a scale and at a fee an amid-market business can actually carry. Kurt personally leads every strategic planning partnership, supported by consultants who work on financial modelling, market analysis,s and performance framework design.
Long-Term Partnerships, Sustained Value
We don't measure success by the number of documents delivered, but by the longevity and growth of our partners.
15+
Active Strategic Planning Partnerships
4.2 Years
Average Partnership Duration
Partnerships Exceeding 5 Years
Expansion Capital Facilitated
Who this Service for
The planning problem changes shape as a business grows, and so does what we run.
Founder-led businesses becoming management-led, £2M to £10M. The business has outgrown the founder’s personal bandwidth. Decisions are still made informally, there is no structured planning cycle, and everyone in the leadership team knows the next stage of growth needs better governance than the current one. We install the rhythm: a quarterly review, a rolling forecast and an annual planning process that runs whether or not the founder is in the room.
Multi-site and multi-product businesses, £10- £30M. Revenue is there, but complexity is stretching the management team. Priorities differ by function, and the board lacks the financial visibility to allocate capital with any confidence. Scenario modelling, site-level profitability,y and facilitated management meetings bring discipline to an operation that has become too complicated to hold in one person’s head.
Businesses with external capital or covenant obligations. Institutional shareholders, non-executive directors, private equity or a lender with reporting conditions all expect a standard of financial visibility that most companies of this size are not structured to produce. We build reporting to that standard and keep it current, so confidence is maintained rather than repaired.
Businesses approaching a transition. A capital raise, an acquisition, a management buyout, a diversification into an adjacent model or an owner planning an exit within five years. Each requires the business to be able to evidence its own numbers under scrutiny, and that capability takes longer to build than the transaction takes to arrive.
We have advised businesses across 47+ industries since 2014. If your situation is not described above, the discovery call will establish quickly whether this is the right route.
Who this is not for
Turning down the wrong engagement is part of the service. Four situations where we will tell you so on the call.
- You need one document for one funder. A retainer is the wrong instrument. Business Plan Writers UK is the right one, and it costs a fraction of this.
- You are pre-revenue or early stage. Below roughly £2 million, the need for governance has not yet arrived. Startup Strategy Consulting or Business Mentoring will serve you better and cost less.
- You want an implementation resource. We build the plan, the forecast and the reporting that tracks it, and we hold the cadence. We do not take operational line responsibility or a director’s seat, and we are not a substitute for hiring.
- You want your existing plan validated. The independent challenge is the product. If the strategy does not survive it, then the engagement is working, and you should be comfortable with that before signing.
Our Managed Strategic Planning Process
Four instruments, running continuously.
1. The quarterly planning cycle
Ad hoc updates and reactive decisions are replaced by a cadence in which each quarter has a defined purpose and a defined output.
Quarter | Purpose | Output |
|---|---|---|
Q1 | Annual planning | Annual strategic plan and rolling three-year financial model, with priorities, targets and resource deployment confirmed by the board |
Q2 | Recalibration | Q1 performance against target, and strategy adjusted against actual market response rather than January assumptions |
half-year | half-year | Full half-year assessment, preliminary budget framework for next year, Q4 resource requirements confirmed |
Q4 | Budget and approval | Detailed annual budget and board approval pack, capital allocation decisions confirmed, management goals aligned to targets |
2. Rolling forecast and scenario set
Static annual budgets become useless within a quarter. We run a rolling 12-month forecast that updates monthly based on trading data, and maintain base, upside, and downside cases as complete models rather than as three columns on a summary sheet. Sensitivity analysis finds which inputs, whether pricing, churn, acquisition cost or input costs, actually drive variance in your model, so management attention goes where it changes the outcome. For businesses with significant working capital, the forecast integrates a working capital cycle mode, because the constraint that stops a growing business is almost never reflected in the profit line.
3. Board and lender reporting
We produce the board pack, covering the strategic overview, financial dashboard, risk register, and KPI tracking, and deliver it 3 to 7 working days before the meeting, along with supporting analysis for questions the board is likely to ask. Where there are institutional shareholders,non-executive directors,s or debt covenants, reporting is built to the standard those stakeholders expect. The KPI set is five to seven measures that tell the leadership team whether it is winning, not a thirty-line scorecard nobody reads.
4. Decision support between cycles
Acquisition opportunities, a key customer at risk, a competitor entering your market: none of these waits for the next quarterly review. Professional and Executive partners hold a quarterly allocation of advisory hours that can be deployed on demand for acquisition assessment, market entry analysis, pricing work or capital allocation. Because we already hold your model and your history, the analysis starts the same week rather than after a fortnight of scoping.
The first 90 days
Retained engagements fail when nothing visible happens in the first quarter. This is what it does.
Days 1 to 15, diagnostic. Individual conversations with board members and heads of function, which surface strategic disagreements and operational bottlenecks that never appear in management reports. Alongside that, a financial review covering unit economics, where margin is genuinely made, the working capital cycle, and how accurate your existing forecasting has actually been.
Days 16-45: strategy sessions. Facilitated sessions with the board and management team, structured to produce explicit trade-offs rather than a list of everything everyone would like to do. We prepare the analysis, we challenge the assumptions, and we hold the room to a decision. The scenario set is built during this stage.
Days 46 to 75, plan and roadmap. The strategic plan covers three- to five-year positions, market strategy, operational requirements, and financial targets, and is written to be used rather than filed. With it comes the implementation schedule: who does what over the next 12 to 24 months, with owners, dates, dependencies,s and the KPI set to track it.
Days 76 to 90, first cycle. The first board pack in the new format, the first rolling forecast, and the cadence for the year agreed and diarised. From this point,the system is running,g and we are maintaining it.
Book A Strategic Assessment and Business Planning Evaluation
Strategic Planning Pricing
From
Foundation Partnership
- Quarterly strategic reviews
- Annual strategic plan development
- Rolling 12-month financial forecasts
- Basic board presentation materials
- Email/phone advisory support
Suitable for: £2M-£10M revenue businesses
From
Professional Partnership
All Foundation features
- Comprehensive board packages (quarterly)
- Multi-scenario financial modelling
- Ad-hoc strategic decision support (10 hours/quarter)
- Management meeting facilitation
Suitable for: £10M-£30M revenue businesses
Executive Partnership
All Professional features
- Monthly financial forecast updates
- Comprehensive ad-hoc support (20 hours/quarter)
- M&A evaluation and due diligence support
- Strategic workshop facilitation
- Priority response times
Suitable for: £30M-£75M revenue businesses
Group Partnership
- Fully tailored engagement model
- Multi-entity/group consolidation
- Unlimited strategic advisory
- Dedicated senior consultant
- C-suite integration
- Suitable for: £75M+ revenue or complex groups
Service Level Comparison
All Partnership Tiers Include | Professional & Executive Also Include | Executive Only Includes |
|
| Priority Advisory & Support
Strategic Planning & Analysis
Financial Oversight
|
Explore Further
Related reading:
- 5 Business Strategic Models That Transform Decision Making — The strategic frameworks we use in operational planning engagements
- Building High-Performance Business Culture — Creating the organisational conditions that make strategy executable
- Business Consulting: A Guide for Startups — Understanding what good business consulting delivers
Free resource:
- The Business Growth Accelerator Pack → — Strategic planning tools and growth frameworks
Content hub:
- Business Planning & Strategy Hub → — Complete strategic planning resources for UK businesses
Related services:
- Business Strategy Consulting — Competitive positioning and market strategy development
- Business Growth Consulting — Revenue optimisation and operational scaling
- Business Plan Writers — External funding documentation alongside internal planning
Strategic Planning Partnerships That Drive Measurable Growth
The outcomes below are drawn from confirmed client engagements — specific businesses, specific challenges, and specific results that SGI's strategic planning input directly contributed to.
Named Partnership Outcomes
Santax Limited — FMCG distribution, 8-location national expansion: Santax Limited, a Bristol-based FMCG distributor, engaged SGI to develop the strategic planning framework for a capital-backed national expansion. The business needed to scale from regional to national distribution while managing the working capital requirements of large FMCG brand relationships and the operational complexity of multiple warehouse locations. We developed the expansion financing strategy, built a warehouse capacity planning model integrating demand forecasting across eight locations, and produced the capital-raising documentation that secured the growth investment. The expansion resulted in strategic partnerships with Cadbury, Nestlé, Mars, and Kellogg's and established Santax as a national-scale distributor.
Velani Hospitality Group — 12-site expansion, 180% revenue growth: Velani Hospitality Group engaged SGI as a strategic planning partner during a rapid expansion from boutique operations to a 12-location portfolio. The challenge was maintaining operational consistency and brand experience quality across sites while managing the capital requirements for property acquisition and fit-out. We developed the location assessment framework, operational standardisation protocols, and the staff training and management structure, enabling the group to scale without diluting service quality. The expansion delivered 180% annual revenue growth, 4.8/5 customer satisfaction across all 12 locations, and a successful entry into 3 new markets.
Zaghou Chinetti Management Consulting — professional services scale-up: Zaghou Chinetti engaged SGI during the transition from a founder-dependent consultancy to an established multi-consultant firm. The strategic challenge was to build the recruitment, service standardisation, and client acquisition systems that would allow the business to grow without the founder personally handling all client work. We developed the consultant recruitment criteria, service delivery frameworks, scalable methodology documentation, and client acquisition systems. The firm achieved 400% revenue growth, recruited qualified senior consultants, established recurring relationships with 25+ companies, and achieved 92% client retention.
Jessamy Home Care — regulated healthcare expansion across five regions: Jessamy Home Care engaged SGI to develop the strategic framework for expanding local home care operations into five regional markets while maintaining CQC compliance and care quality standards. The planning challenge combined regulatory compliance programming with the financial modelling of a care business with long payment cycles and significant staffing costs. We developed the expansion protocols, care quality standardisation frameworks, regulatory compliance systems, and a financial model demonstrating regional viability in each target market. The expansion resulted in the recruitment of 80+ qualified care professionals, the provision of services to 1,200+ families, 4.9/5 satisfaction scores, and 200% revenue growth.
Ascending Arbs — strategic diversification into renewable energy: Ascending Arbs, a successful tree surgery operation, engaged SGI to develop the strategy for diversifying into biofuel processing — a structurally different business model requiring capital investment, regulatory compliance for energy production, and new commercial relationships. We developed the diversification strategy, built the financial model for the biofuel processing operation alongside the core service business, and developed the regulatory compliance framework for energy production. The biofuel operations now contribute 40% of total revenue; the business achieved 180% annual revenue growth, and 95% client retention in traditional services was maintained through the transition.
Further strategic planning outcomes available across: Technology & SaaS Scale-ups | Construction & Property Development | Retail Chains | Healthcare Groups | Renewable Energy Infrastructure | Financial Services
Strategic Planning That Drives Execution
We have guided over 2,000 organisations through critical growth phases, helping leadership teams secure over £250 million in expansion capital and achieve measurable operational improvements.
Our strategic planning has enabled clients ranging from high-growth technical scale-ups securing Series B investment from firms like Atomico and Balderton Capital, through to established enterprises like Santax Limited, achieving 8-location UK expansion while managing complex supply chain partnerships with Cadbury, Nestlé, and Mars.
Our Business Plans Have Secured Funding From Leading Investors and Institutions
Corporate Finance & Expansion Capital: We support mature businesses in securing the capital required for scale. This includes preparing Information Memorandums for Private Equity, structuring Commercial Debt facilities with major lenders (Barclays, HSBC, NatWest), and facilitating M&A transactions.
Success Across Critical Strategic Phases:
Market Expansion: Logistics groups scaling from regional operations to nationwide distribution networks (8+ locations).
Operational Restructuring: Manufacturing and Hospitality groups are rationalising costs to improve net margins.
Scale-Up Strategy: High-growth tech firms transitioning from "startup chaos" to structured corporate governance.
Franchise & Multi-Site: Management teams standardising operations across 12+ locations (e.g., Velani Hospitality Group).
Proven Expertise Across Complex Sectors: Manufacturing & Distribution • Healthcare & Social Care Groups • Professional Services • Construction & Property Development • Renewable Energy Infrastructure • Retail Chains
Explore detailed examples of how our planning process aligns leadership and drives growth:
Read Our Complete Case Studies & Track Record →
Discover specific examples, including Santax Limited (National logistics expansion), Velani Hospitality Group (180% revenue increase across a 12-site portfolio), and Planetary Processing (Structuring complex IP commercialisation for international markets).
Ready to Build Strategic Infrastructure?
This service is not for every business. It is designed for organisations where the cost of a poor strategic decision — or the absence of a planning process to prevent one — materially exceeds the investment in structured planning support.
If you have revenue between £2 million and £50 million, multiple stakeholders to report to, a leadership team stretched across operational execution, and a gap in your internal FP&A and strategic planning capability, we should talk.
Schedule a Partnership Discovery Call today. This is a 60–90 minute complimentary session — not a sales call — in which we assess your business context, governance requirements, and decision-making cadence. We will give you an honest recommendation on whether a partnership or a project-based approach is the right fit, and we will be direct if we assess that the strategic planning challenges you face can be addressed more cheaply through a different route.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A Fractional Strategy Office provides the capabilities of an embedded strategic planning function — quarterly planning cycles, rolling financial forecasts, board reporting, and strategic decision support — on a retained basis rather than as a project. The difference from a traditional strategy consultant is continuity and accountability.
A strategy consultant delivers a project and disengages. They do not have accountability for whether the recommendations were executed, whether the strategy held up against market reality, or whether the business's performance 12 months later reflects what was planned. A Fractional Strategy Office is present for all of these questions — and because we are engaged on a retainer rather than project fees, our incentive is aligned with the quality of what we produce rather than the volume of engagements we close.
Yes. We offer a Trial Partnership — one month of full-service deliverables, including a diagnostic assessment, a strategic review meeting, and the first rolling forecast output. This allows you to evaluate the working relationship and the quality of the deliverables before committing to an annual arrangement.
Most clients convert to an annual partnership after the trial, because the value of a structured planning process becomes evident once the first quarterly cycle is complete. We do not use the trial as a sales mechanism — if the working relationship or the fit is not right, we will say so.
Partnerships require 30 days' notice for pausing or termination. If a major operational disruption — an acquisition, a restructuring, a leadership transition — requires the partnership to be paused, it can be resumed within six months without re-engagement fees.
We include satisfaction checks at Months 3 and 6 for new partnerships. If you are not seeing value, we will discuss adjustments or part ways professionally. Our 4.2-year average partnership duration reflects that most clients find significant value, but we would rather acknowledge a poor fit early than maintain an engagement that is not delivering.
Strategic Planning Partnership complements internal finance teams; it does not replace them. Internal finance teams — including CFOs — typically focus on financial control, transaction processing, compliance, and accurate reporting of historical performance. These are essential functions, but they are distinct from forward-looking strategic financial modelling, scenario planning, and the narrative analysis that a board or investor requires.
Most CFOs in businesses with annual revenue below £30 million are managing a significant transactional and compliance workload alongside their strategic finance responsibilities. The bandwidth for structured forward-looking work is typically limited. We provide the specific capability that fills this gap without duplicating what your finance team already does well.
Our strategic planning partnerships work best for businesses with annual revenue between £2 million and £50 million. Below £2 million, a static annual business plan or periodic project-based support is usually better suited to the business's complexity and governance needs. Above £50 million, the strategic planning capability is often built in-house, though many businesses in this range retain us for external objectivity and specific modelling work.
The specific sweet spot is businesses that have grown beyond the point where the founding team's informal coordination is sufficient, but have not yet built the internal FP&A and strategy function that a larger corporation would have. This is typically the £5 million to £30 million revenue range, though the right fit depends more on governance complexity and leadership team size than revenue alone
Management time investment is concentrated in the quarterly planning cycle. Typically, two to four hours of information provision before the quarterly review and two to three hours for the review meeting itself. Between quarterly reviews, the ad-hoc decision support available on Professional and Executive tiers is available on demand and does not require a scheduled time.
Most clients report net time savings, because we handle the analysis and material preparation that previously consumed leadership team hours before board meetings and strategic discussions. The quarterly review meeting becomes more productive because the analytical groundwork has been done before the meeting begins.
We maintain partnerships across Technology, Manufacturing, Professional Services, Hospitality, and Retail. Strategic planning methodologies transfer across industries effectively, and our cross-sector view often provides unique competitive insights.
Yes. We review partnership scope quarterly. If your needs change (growth, complexity, market conditions), we can adjust the tier at the next quarterly renewal.
We include a satisfaction check at Months 3 and 6 for new partnerships. If you're not seeing value, we'll discuss adjustments or part ways professionally with no penalty.
Our 4.2-year average partnership duration suggests most clients find significant value.
Yes. Strategic Planning Partnership clients often engage us for capital-raising documentation — Information Memorandums for private equity, commercial debt facility proposals for major lenders, and investor-ready business plans for equity fundraising — as part of or alongside the strategic planning engagement. Because we already have deep knowledge of the business from the partnership, this documentation is produced significantly more efficiently than it would be as a standalone project.
We have facilitated over £250 million in expansion capital for our strategic planning clients, including commercial debt facilities with Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, as well as private equity documentation for management buyouts and majority stake transactions.