Wednesday 8 April 2020 - for immediate release

Financial remodelling in a time of crisis

The unprecedented financial crisis caused by the global pandemic is giving rise to a reappraisal of the robustness of businesses previously thought to be bullet proof.  Part of that reappraisal has concerned the financial models that those companies use for their own budgeting and forecasting. 

London-headquartered Operis is expert at financial modelling in project finance and over the past few days has received a number of calls from businesses worldwide where models have simply broken down.

Henrietta Royle, Operis chief executive, said: "Financial models are built to consider a wide range of possible futures, but those futures only include eventualities that were considered plausible at the time when the models were prepared.  In most cases, a period of very low revenue, or none at all, is not among them.  When revenue falls below costs, few forecasts are likely to handle it correctly.

"We have one model that understates the extent to which the owners will have to put their hands in their pockets by a factor of around eight and that's assuming that the bank doesn't call its loan in.

"Force majeure clauses will likely stop it doing that. Even so, the owners will need to evaluate the unpalatable alternatives of bailing out the business, or letting their asset go bankrupt, and maybe trying to buy it out of administration. 

"To make this choice they need a model capable of representing these adverse scenarios. Government help may be available to keep the business afloat, but that too will need negotiating and modelling."

Operis also anticipates similar expert analysis will be needed outside the project finance world. 

Henrietta Royle added: "While the people best placed to prepare new financial models are those within a company who know it well, not all companies will have analytical skills and resources in the quantity needed to respond at speed.

"One thing the crisis has done, which will be a lasting impact, is to make people much more conscious of the need to do real sensitivity testing on the robustness and resilience of their financial models - and to be capable of remodelling when there are major shifts in basic assumptions.

"We have long campaigned for good standards of flexible, auditable financial models so that investors and developers can review and re-evaluate their positions when circumstances change. That has never been more relevant than at present."

NOTE TO EDITORS

Media contact

Stephen Fleming, PR Advisor, Operis

Email:stephen@flemingpr.com

Phone:+44 (0) 7718 756 615

About Operis

Operis is a leading advisor in project and infrastructure finance, renowned for its financial modelling and auditing expertise as well as its financial structuring advice. The firm has been mandated by leading investment banks, infrastructure funds, bond arrangers and guarantor bodies around the world. This experience spans all infrastructure and energy sectors and covers over 980 projects and other funded transactions worldwide.

The firm has its origins as a specialist in the financial modelling of project finance transactions.  That expertise remains a distinctive strength and over time, Operis's activities have widened to cover a full portfolio of project finance related services including financial advice, model audit, financial modelling training and financial modelling software.

Operis works by forging close collaborative partnerships to achieve effective and productive results for our clients. Its approach is to provide expert and personal attention that only an independent firm can deliver.

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