Leading through adversity: How this CFO navigated a double blow

Most finance leaders pride themselves on being level-headed during a crisis, knowing it will pass. But being dealt significant challenges in quick succession isn’t for the faint hearted.

Sydney’s Arno Becker has done just that, navigating the company through significant successive challenges. The CFO and joint-CEO of telco infrastructure company BSA Limited (ASX: BSA) admits he’s been through a baptism of fire, but pushing through challenges was something he was comfortable with.

He tells the story in the hope that other CFOs going through a rough patch realise that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

The first major challenge was experienced by many leaders internationally, but he had only been in the CFO chair a few weeks when the COVID pandemic hit.  It forced everybody out of the office to work from home  “All my carefully laid plans to transition into the role were thrown upside down,” he recalls.

“At first, our focus was purely on risk mitigation, trying to understand how this virus was going to affect the world and, more specifically, our business. We focused on scenario- planning to work through the challenges that the virus presented. As with many other businesses, we experienced a significant downturn during Covid,” he says.

Like many other companies, the pandemic had a significant financial impact on BSA, and post Covid recovery was much slower than initially expected. At the time, the company had operations in the building services sector which was significantly impacted during the work from home mandate, with a sluggish recovery.  

Legacy Issues

As if running a customer-facing business during a global pandemic wasn’t difficult enough,

the company was also impacted by a material legacy issue including a significant legal case.

The case caused ongoing disruption to BSA’s management and operations and was eventually settled without admission of liability for $20million by instalments over three years.

The financial impact of the legacy items and COVID significantly stressed the company and Becker has worked tirelessly to restore its financial health whilst also ensuring client and people engagement. A tough balancing act, to say the least.  

“The business disruption and high demand employment market at the time cause significant staff churn and it took time to rebuild trust in the team and attract new talent. But we identified and retained the core group of people essential to deliver our plan. This central squad of people together with invaluable guidance from the board were key to the turn around,” Becker says.

Turnaround

BSA Limited is primarily Australian owned and operated. The telco delivers design, construction, management, maintenance and field service solutions for fixed and wireless networks, smart metering and EV-charging infrastructure for residential and commercial customers.

Through sheer grit and determination, Becker and the BSA team have righted the company by providing leadership stability during this critical period. BSA has successfully navigated three challenging years: performing a capital raise, completing a major divestment, returning to profitability and setting the strategic direction of the company by focusing on its core competencies and areas of competitive advantage.

“At times it was tough. But we divided our focus between divestment of non-core assets and accelerating the recovery of our continuing business. We knew that once the divestment was complete and the company had stabilised, we would be at an inflection point.”

It paid off. June 2024 marked the last payment, settling the class action.  BSA can now concentrate its financial focus in other areas, including potential new business streams.

In its latest ASX announcement, BSA Limited announced FY24 revenue of $255.5m and EBITDA of $22.2m, with Q4 performance marginally ahead on previous quarters. Net debt  was $6.4 m as at 30 June, 2024 following a significant reduction in financial liabilities

BSA also reported to the ASX that it has secured a three year contract renewal with Foxtel . Similarly, the NSW Telco Authority has also awarded BSA a major contract to rationalise 42 sites under the Microwave Link Rationalisation program. Work is underway and is forecast to be complete by the end of 2025.

Writing a roadmap

Critical to the journey has been developing a roadmap and communicating that internally. “People value direction and like to know where we’re going as a business. We developed a strategy with a three year horizon and communicated it through the company. It was well received. People like to what part they will play in the future.”

A consistent theme throughout Becker’s career has been about being in the right place at the right time. “Perhaps life’s lessons in resilience gave me focus in putting my head down and getting things done to the best of my ability. People are the key to any success.  Anything is possible with the right team alongside you driving towards the ultimate goal.    Hard work creates your own luck.”

Becker started with BSA Limited as the GM of Finance in 2019 before stepping into the CFO role in March 2020. Two years later, he was asked to step into the CEO role on an interim basis after both the then CEO and Chairman resigned from the BSA Group. 

In April 2024 he was appointed to the joint-CEO role, splitting the duties with trusted colleague Richard Bartley, who had an instrumental role in in the recovery of the continued operations. Together they form a formidable leadership team.

Becker, a Chartered Accountant, began his career working with Deloitte working across three continents before settling in Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor (Honours) in Accounting from the University of South Africa.

Prior to joining BSA, he held a number of senior finance and leadership roles in both Australia and Namibia at Leighton Contractors, Fulton Hogan and Namibia Construction.

Leadership style

Becker confirms he makes decisions based on data, describing his leadership style as collaborative and calm: “You’ve got to take your people on a journey but also balance that with understanding exactly what we’re collectively trying to achieve. And as soon as we hit one goal, we’ll reach for the next one.”

He’s never too busy, often stopping in the hallway for a chat with anyone passing by. “A development opportunity I see for many CFOs is that they have quite an introverted style, but what they’re often missing is the ability to drive those results by engaging the people who will help deliver and understand what they need and what drives them,” he says.  

“You can read the mood of BSA when you stop and talk to the people, which is really important for any leader. The buck stops with you, and engaging with people helps you keep your finger on the pulse of the company, not just the financials.”

Becker’s top tips for leading through adversity:

Be uncomfortable – When you’re uncomfortable, you’re learning. It’s not very often I sit in the office feeling completely content with life, there’s always something challenging on my mind.

Focus on the team: If you’ve got the right people, everything else becomes easy.

Write a roadmap: Teams need to share the vision, so write a roadmap and show them how and when things will improve

Create your luck: Be clear about what you want to achieve, and how you’re going to get there.

Get buy-in from the top: Everyone needs to be on the same page, regardless of where they sit in the company.

Keep moving and evolving: If you stand still, everyone will pass you. You need to move, grow and evolve all the time.