Company Overview

Filshill is a highly successful, family business, established in 1875 as a confectionary manufacturer, now a multifaceted company with turnover in excess of £139m.

Headquartered in Hillington, Filshill is a driving force in the supply and distribution to grocery stores across Scotland and Northern England. The company owns the Key Store convenience brand, with over 160 retailers operating under this model, whilst also servicing numerous wholesalers and several national accounts including the Scottish Prison Service.

Fishill’s purpose is to deliver a prosperous family business for our community of employees, customers and suppliers.

To achieve this Filshill’s principle vision is to be the ‘go to’ trusted partner for service, support and innovation within our chosen markets allowing us to recruit new Keystore business partners, independent retails, wholesalers and general supply contract partners.  The business is investing heavily in pursuit of this vision.

Diversification is also a key part of our growth strategy. In 2014 the company launched an export division “The Craft Beer Clan of Scotland” to help Scottish craft brewers enter the booming Asian market. Filshill has recently partnered with Alan Mahon and Josh Littlejohn, the social entrepreneurs behind the popular Social Bite sandwich shop, to create, Brewgooder, the world’s first craft beer label to donate 100% of its profits to clean water projects

Filshill represents a true Scottish family owned success story. The newly expanded Hillington office hosts all back office functions such as sales, finance, IT and distribution.

The Opportunity

The position of Commercial Analyst has been created in response to the continuing increase in demand for accurate and timely management information across the company.  The Commercial Analyst will take ownership for the collation and analysis of trading data to support commercial business decisions and accurate financial reporting. The data produced will identify opportunities for growth and highlight business inefficiencies. This information will play a key role in shaping new processes and procedures to enable the company to continue to flourish.

It is a highly visible role working closely with the Finance Director, undertaking detailed analysis at their request. Given the exposure of the position, it is essential that an individual has the ability to build effective and robust working relationships within the finance team and across all departments of the company. The post holder will possess a strong work ethic, taking responsibility for their duties and a willingness to support the Finance Director on key objectives.

J.W. Filshill represents an excellent opportunity for a motivated and conscientious financial analyst or part-qualified accountant. The business is supportive of staff who seek to expand their skillset. Managing Director, Simon Hannah, has ambitious growth plans for the company, and is likely to diversify into new markets over the next few years.

The Commercial Analyst is a key role within the finance team, whilst also liaising regularly with IT department. The information produced by the individual will play a contributory factor in decision making by the Board of Directors, therefore it is imperative that due attention to detail is taken. It is vital that an individual is able to develop effective working relationships across the business.

An overview of core responsibilities includes:

Commercial Analysis

• Prepare and circulate weekly and monthly commercial performance information to identify and track key financial trends and areas that require business attention (such as profitability by customer, route to market, product and business unit), and follow up with operations and sales teams to understand variances.
• Assist in the monitoring of promotional activity, customer rebates / over riders and advertising revenue to maximise benefit to the company
• Analyse EPOS system retail data to identify opportunities and trends that will maximise revenue for, and therefore from, suppliers.
• Provide support to commercial management and business development decision making by providing costings of new business proposals/ opportunities and assessing margins and the overall financial viability of existing and proposed commercial arrangements with suppliers and customers.
• This will include business proposals for potential new customers, customer revenue and pricing discussions, and supplier revenue and pricing discussions.

Data Interrogation

• As part of a cross departmental team, support the delivery of a robust reporting analysis structure and appropriate software tools, to deliver accurate and timely commercial MI to the business Leadership team and core functions.

Financial Planning 

• Support the forecasting and budgeting processes, ensuring that customer revenue and profitability assumptions are built on robust assumptions.
• Provide analysis and insight on ad hoc financial planning projects and commercial decision making, including the financial implications of complex projects and trading arrangements.

Pricing Support

• Co-ordinate the Sales and Commercial team in documenting and redefining the Filshill pricing structure.

Candidate Profile

The position encompasses a combination of key commercial tasks requiring a confident individual with strong analytical skills and interpersonal ability to liaise with stakeholders at all levels. As the role reports directly to the Finance Director, it is important to be able to take ownership of duties. It is likely the individual will have worked in a manufacturing, FMCG or retails business where they have been tasked with providing information to support commercial decision-making.

The business is open to consider candidates who are actively studying towards an accountancy qualification or those who simply seek to develop their analytical skills and business acumen without gaining accreditation.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• A degree in accountancy, finance or a related discipline
• At least 3 year’s post graduate experience working in a commercial finance role
• Strong Excel skills, having regularly used pivot tables and V look ups
• Experience of using data analysis software tools to interrogate large tables of data
• An analytical, proactive, problem solving mind set, and the tenacity to enthusiastically see things through to a successful conclusion
• Ability to liaise with stakeholders at all levels
• Strong work ethic, attention to detail and the willingness to take accountability
• Confidence and strong interpersonal skills
• Excellent written, verbal and presentational communication skills

1. Remuneration

Salary:                                  Up to £30,000 (depending on experience)

Bonus:                                  5% annual bonus

Pension:                              Employee contribution 2% and employer 3%

Holidays:                             28 days holiday

Working Hours:                 38.75 hours per week