Most EBITDA improvement doesn't come from growing revenue. It comes from fixing the margin, working capital, and cost structures already inside the business. Scott Foster has done this in every business he's run.
The fastest path to better EBITDA is rarely a new strategy. It's fixing the pricing structure nobody has challenged, recovering the freight costs absorbed for years, releasing the working capital tied up in slow-moving stock, and removing the operational drag that compounds quietly in the background.
Scott Foster has materially improved earnings in every business he has operated — not through cost-cutting programs, but through structured, disciplined reviews of where capital is being deployed and whether it's earning its keep.
He has grown EBITDA from 3.7% to 10.4% at Polyflor Australia. Expanded EBIT 85% at Plascorp in 18 months. Saved AUD 2.5M annually through working capital discipline. These are not projections — they are results.
Where the money typically hides
Pricing structure
Discounts, rebates and legacy pricing that no longer reflect value or cost-to-serve
Freight & logistics
Costs absorbed over years that should be recovered or renegotiated
Inventory & working capital
Capital tied up in slow-moving or obsolete stock earning nothing
Operational drag
Contracts renewing on auto-pilot, assets underperforming, processes consuming time without improving outcomes
Cost-to-serve
Customers, channels or products consuming margin without generating proportional return
“Most businesses look for growth to improve EBITDA. Pricing is faster. More controllable. And often hiding in plain sight — but only if it's treated as a system, not a series of individual decisions.”Scott Foster — Pricing Is the Fastest Way to Move EBITDA (LinkedIn)
Most businesses have a collection of pricing decisions, not a pricing system. We audit the structure — discounts, rebates, floor pricing, regional variance — and redesign it so margin improves by default, not by exception. Most businesses are sitting on 300–500bps of untapped margin.
A structured review of every dollar deployed in the business — treated as a capital allocation decision. Working capital embedded in slow stock. Contracts renewing above market. Assets misaligned to operational need. We identify, quantify, and release.
Inventory turns, debtor management, payables discipline, and cash conversion — assessed against your operating model and industry benchmarks. Scott improved stock turns from 2.3x to 6.0x at Surface Squared and reduced inventory by AUD 3.3M at Dotmar.
Freight costs absorbed over years represent structural margin leakage. We analyse cost-to-serve by customer, channel, and geography — identifying what should be recovered through pricing, renegotiated with carriers, or restructured in the logistics model.
From list price to net margin — every step in the waterfall where value leaks. Invoice discounts, rebates, freight allowances, payment terms, and returns. We map the full waterfall, quantify the leakage, and design controls that preserve margin at every stage.
Stock positioning, pick path efficiency, slow and obsolete inventory, warehouse footprint, and handling costs — reviewed against throughput and service level requirements. Reduced warehousing and logistics costs by AUD 2.5M annually at Polyflor APAC.
Step 01 — Diagnostic
A structured review of financials, pricing architecture, working capital, cost-to-serve, and operational overhead. Every dollar treated as deployed capital. We identify what's earning its keep and what isn't.
Step 02 — Quantification
Every identified opportunity is sized — conservatively and specifically. You'll know exactly what's available, what it requires, and what the realistic timeline to EBITDA impact looks like.
Step 03 — Execution
We don't hand over a report. We work alongside your team to implement — building the pricing models, restructuring the working capital approach, installing the controls, and tracking impact against a clear EBITDA bridge.
"Capital rarely leaks loudly. It erodes quietly through familiarity — in contracts nobody has challenged, inventory nobody has reviewed, and pricing nobody has questioned."
Scott Foster
Read the articles →Let's find out where the margin is hiding — and build a plan to capture it.
Start the Conversation