Marcus Sichel

Results-driven and meticulous financial professional with 10+ years of experience in managing finance functions and providing commercial advisory support to pivot market changes in the most profitable manner. Skilled in financial analysis and business development with financial resources management. Equipped with strong background in supporting organisational transformation and restructuring for profit improvements, while developing and implementing reporting & analysis systems across the company. Adept at working in large and complex environment across £500M+ Advertising, Ecommerce. Syndication, Subscriptions, Real Estate/Housing, service contracts and talent management Income Streams. Leading business planning, while providing consolidated analytics and insight for management reporting pertaining to improved gross margin across all channels.

Virgin Media O2 (Contract)                                                                    Mar 2025 – May 2025

Finance Manager – Netco Project

A short-term contract working on the Business plan and financial model for the Netco Separation plan. 

• Supported the £200m NetCo separation programme by updating the business case and financial model, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and executive decision-making. 
• Worked closely with business owners to identify and quantify one-off costs and recurring dis-synergies, ensuring financial accuracy across multiple workstreams.

Wasserman (Contract)                                                                                               Jul 2024 – Feb 2025

FP&A Director – EMEA & APAC

My role was to integrate of the sizable acquisition of CSM which doubled the EMEA & APAC business. Consolidating and standardising budgeting, forecasting and reporting for Wasserman, CSM and 4 additional acquisitions across EMEA & APAC.

• Integrated CSM – migrating workday tenant and updated consolidated reporting. Migrated CSM Asset register and standardised CAPEX reporting.
• Standardised Earn-out accounting policies across EMEA & APAC
• Standardised Bonuses and Bonus accrual procedures

Lookahead Care & Support (Contract)                                                    Nov 2022 – Mar 2024

Head of FP&A

Joined during a period of high inflation, Local Authority (LA) funding shortfalls, and staff turnover. Delivered immediate cost savings, stabilised operations, and reshaped long-term strategy to improve sustainability and profitability.

 

• Developed a 5–30-year business plan to pivot towards higher-margin organic growth and support-only services.
• Renegotiated 100+ LA contracts, increasing income by £3.5m (10%), and delivered £900k in cost savings through contract and departmental restructuring.
• Took interim ownership of Treasury: secured a £5m loan, recovered £2.5m in aged debt, and re-prioritised CAPEX.
• Introduced automation (Microsoft Flows) to overhaul AP reporting; designed interim PO system to improve spend control.
• Enhanced reporting cadence with new KPIs and quarterly forecasts; accelerated month-end close by 2 weeks.
• Created process training videos to reduce pressure on Finance Business Partners and standardise operations.

Future PLC (FormerlyTI-Media Limited)                                                  Nov 2019 – May  2022

Commercial Finance Manager for North America

Delivered financial support for all strategic decisions across £400M+ of advertising revenue and associated gross margin for 200+ brands across North America. Led marketing effectiveness and efficiency through financial analyses and insights of brand/trade performance. 

• Successful integration of TI Media, Dennis, Marie Claire US and Cinemablend delivering double digital revenue and margin growth.
• improved margins by 20% by redesigning the AP reporting process and conducting profitability review of bespoke creative campaigns
• Increased Yields by 15% by introducing campaign reporting and placing yield/campaign reviews at the forefront of month/quarterly board reporting. 
• Highlighted inefficacies in Video avails process resulting in 40% growth in video revenue
• Integrated GAM, Netsuite and Salesforce ad data into Google DataStudio report for detailed Matrix structure reporting.

TI-Media Limited (Formerly Time Inc.)                                                       Jan 2016 – Oct 2019

Group Head of Advertising Finance & Digital

Led financial modelling and planning for £200M+ in advertising, e-commerce, and digital subscriptions across 100+ brands. Owned month-end, forecasting, 5-year planning, and compliance, delivering insight through KPI reporting to support board-level decisions. Oversaw SOX compliance and managed an 8-person regional and international Ad Finance team to improve workflow and reporting accuracy

• Saved £3.8M by building brand profitability model for divestment and digital first strategies.
• Integrated acquisition of Collective into Time Inc. UK, while creating a new reporting structure and uniform incentive scheme focused on digital gross margin across the group. 
• Improved reporting and cash reconciliation by automating Programmatic Bookings and Invoicing.
• Reduced aged debt of £5M (80%) of at-risk revenue from one of the largest clients by assessing the risk and agreeing repayment plans.
• Cleared £1.5M of aged accruals and redesigned more efficient reporting for the e-commerce businesses. 
• Grew revenue by 10% by introducing an API reporting tool to improve oversight of network and client spend to support more tactical selling.
• Led sales team of 200+ employees across multiple locations by acting as a Leadership team member. 
• Steered IFRS compliance across advertising including 606 Rev Recognition Standard. 

Financial Manager of Specialist Advertising                                             Nov 2013 – Dec 2015

 Implemented new booking tool and processes by re-designing sales, sales support, and production reporting process through Ad point project team collaboration. Crafted weekly advertising revenue board reports including key accounts report, market share / trend, internal benchmarking, and competitive comparison across all titles and media channels. Calculated and submitted specialist advertising sales bonuses and commission.

• Saved £1M by identifying unprofitable areas and restructuring production and 30 sales teams. 
• Streamline process for budgeting and forecasting across 100+ print and digital titles. 
• Improved cash-flow and billing processes. Resolved issues around reconciled cash on World Pay and Paypal payments.

ACCA London School of Business and Finance – All first time passes 

Bsc Hons in Applied Accounting, Oxford Brooks, Oxford (Second Class Honours Degree) - Expected

Bsc Hons in Maths with Economics, University of London, Royal Holloway College (Second Class Honours Degree) 

A levels - Esher College, Thames Ditton, Surrey