Group Chief Financial Officer — Contract-Logistics Portfolio

The mandate

This contract-logistics portfolio operates multi-client and dedicated warehouses with transport, customs and value-added services embedded in customer agreements. Site earnings appear stable, but several contracts depend on cross-border lanes whose freight rates, volume and duty advances have changed materially. Warehouse productivity and transport contribution are reported separately, obscuring customers and routes that consume cash or capacity despite meeting local margin targets.

The group is appointing a Group Chief Financial Officer to create one economic view of the portfolio. The CFO will own finance, planning, treasury, tax, controls, capital allocation, contract economics and board reporting. Operations and commercial leaders own customers and delivery; customs and risk functions retain independent authority. The CFO must ensure that warehouse, lane, inventory and cash commitments reconcile before the business renews or invests.

This urgent, unplanned appointment is not a mandate for across-the-board price increases or capital withdrawal. The board expects evidence-based reprioritisation: protect sites and lanes that create network value, repair contracts where scope and cost have diverged, and exit arrangements whose future economics cannot be made responsible.

Scope and operating context

Based onsite in Singapore, the role influences approximately 1,150 employees and material partners across Singapore and a wider international region. The perimeter includes commercial and operational finance, controllership, treasury, tax, planning, capital, procurement finance and shared services. Interfaces span warehouses, transport, customs, engineering, automation, customer solutions, technology, contracts and country teams.

Contracts differ in duration, indexation, volume bands, gainshare, service levels, labour responsibility, inventory liability and capital ownership. A customer may earn an attractive warehouse margin while its transport legs generate volatility and claims. Dedicated automation may improve labour but create stranded risk if the contract is shorter than asset life.

Working capital is operational. Duty and tax advances, inventory discrepancies, billing evidence, fuel and carrier payments, customer disputes and capital milestones affect cash. Finance cannot improve these outcomes only through collection activity; it must change contract, process and system design.

First-year agenda

The first ninety days will establish contract-to-lane economics. The CFO will connect customer revenue, warehouse labour and space, transport buy and sell rates, customs, inventory, claims, capital, depreciation, working capital and service effort. Several high-revenue and challenged accounts will be reconstructed to test allocations and identify missing scope.

A portfolio segmentation will distinguish strategic, repairable, harvest and exit situations. Strategic contracts should create durable contribution, capability or network density. Repairable accounts need scope, productivity, rate or capital action. Harvest cannot become unmanaged decline, and exits must protect employees, inventory, customers and property obligations.

Embedded trade lanes will receive explicit ownership. Finance and operations will show volume, capacity, rate volatility, balance, accessorials, customs and claims by route. Where a lane supports several contracts, network value will be allocated transparently. Volume credits cannot obscure negative forward economics.

Renewal governance will start earlier. Contracts approaching indexation or expiry will have current cost, productivity, volume, asset, service and cash evidence. Proposals will distinguish price recovery from operating improvement and identify terms that need change. Commercial urgency will not justify rolling forward unbounded liability.

Automation capital will be stage-gated against contract and site scenarios. Investment cases will include customer commitment, ramp, integration, labour availability, maintenance, obsolescence, residual use and exit. Pilot evidence and operational readiness will govern release. A technology demonstration will not count as productivity until throughput and quality are sustained.

Billing and revenue assurance will connect operational events to invoice evidence. Storage, handling, value-added work, detention, transport and customs charges require accurate capture and customer-agreed definitions. Repeated leakage will trigger process and contract action rather than manual month-end recovery.

Inventory and claims exposure will be reconciled with customer obligations. Accuracy, shrinkage, damage, temperature or regulated handling and liability caps will be visible. Reserves will reflect evidence, and significant discrepancies will receive independent investigation. Finance will not suppress claims to protect a renewal narrative.

Working-capital programmes will focus on root cause. Duty advances will have limits and rapid reimbursement; disputed invoices will be analysed by missing evidence or contract ambiguity; carrier and labour terms will align where feasible with customer cash. Supplier pressure that threatens service or compliance will not be treated as sustainable improvement.

The CFO will strengthen forecasting by operational driver. Volume, orders, pallets, lines, labour, transport, fuel, space and capital milestones will replace broad percentages. Scenarios will show customer concentration, volume loss, wage or rate shocks and delayed automation. By year-end, the board should have a credible cash and margin plan by contract cohort.

Leadership responsibilities

The CFO will report to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee, acting as independent steward of capital, control and portfolio truth. They will improve commercial choices rather than review them after commitment. Material contract, automation and exit decisions require direct finance leadership.

They will build a finance team that understands warehouse and transport operations. Business partners will spend time on sites and lanes while retaining challenge. Controllers, treasury and commercial finance must reconcile one result, with clear escalation when operational data is unreliable.

The role will lead relationships with banks, auditors, tax and customs authorities, landlords, automation financiers and selected customers. Credibility depends on early disclosure of risk and delivery of agreed corrective action.

Measures of success

The board committee will track contribution and cash by contract, site and embedded lane; renewal economics; price and productivity; billing leakage; claims; capital returns and forecast accuracy. It will distinguish accounting allocation from operational value.

Working-capital measures include receivables, dispute, duty advances, supplier terms, inventory and capital payments. Control measures cover contract-to-bill integrity, reserves, customs and asset governance. Leadership development and succession will also be assessed.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring more than 28 years in contract logistics, transport, industrial services or another asset-and-labour-intensive service. They must have served as group or divisional CFO and reset a customer portfolio whose site and transport economics diverged.

The committee will seek examples of restructuring or exiting a logistics contract, rejecting automation capital with weak residual value and recovering cash through operational redesign. Candidates should understand warehouse productivity, transport, customs, contracts, capital, claims and working capital.

The successful CFO will be commercially constructive and unsparing about economic truth. They must engage credibly with site leaders and customers, distinguish network value from internal subsidy and make decisions before renewal deadlines remove options.

Compensation and appointment terms

The expected annual base is SGD 600,000–850,000, accompanied by annual incentive and long-term participation. Reward will balance sustainable contribution, cash, controls, capital productivity and leadership depth. Final terms will reflect comparable portfolio scope and verified forfeited awards.

Confidentiality

The portfolio remains unnamed because customer contracts, site economics, lane rates and inventory exposure are sensitive. Detailed information will follow identity, conflict and confidentiality review. Applicants must not submit customer agreements, stock records, rates or proprietary financial models.