Fanar Production, a prominent media production company serving clients across the Middle East, faced a critical challenge that many creative agencies encounter: strong market demand but disappointing financial performance. Despite major projects and steady clients, the company couldn’t convert creative success into sustainable profits. This case study shows how Ryne Elite’s CFO services transformed Fanar’s finances through innovative operational restructuring and rigorous financial management.
The Challenge
Fanar Production had built an enviable reputation in the Middle Eastern media landscape, delivering compelling content for broadcast, digital platforms, and corporate clients. However, beneath the creative success lay a troubling financial reality that threatened the company’s long-term viability.
The production house operated under a traditional agency model with substantial fixed overhead costs. A full-time staff of animators, editors, producers, and support personnel generated significant monthly expenses regardless of project volume. This rigid cost structure created a dangerous mismatch between revenue fluctuations and expense consistency.
Operational inefficiencies compounded the financial strain. Production processes lacked standardization, leading to project overruns and resource waste. Without granular cost tracking systems, the management had limited visibility into project-level profitability, and made it difficult to identify which projects were really generating profits and which were draining resources.
Perhaps most critically, the cash flow dynamics of media production created severe liquidity pressure. Large-scale productions required substantial upfront investments in production resources—often months before client payments materialized. This timing mismatch strained working capital and limited the company’s ability to pursue growth opportunities.
“We were essentially running blind” recalls Haider Mohammed, Founder of Fanar Production. “We knew we were busy, our clients were happy, but somehow we were always scrambling to meet payroll and vendor payments. It was unsustainable.”
The Solution
Ryne Elite’s engagement began with a comprehensive financial and operational assessment that revealed the depth of Fanar’s challenges while identifying clear paths to profitability. A Ryne Elite CFO with deep expertise in creative industries and Middle Eastern market dynamics, developed a multi-faceted transformation strategy.
Operational Model Transformation
The cornerstone of our approach involved fundamentally reinventing Fanar’s operating model. Rather than maintaining a large, fixed workforce, we transitioned to a flexible, project-based structure. Core creative leadership and essential project management roles remained in-house, while specialized production talent shifted to a freelance model and supporting tasks were outsourced. This transformation required careful planning to maintain quality standards and creative consistency while dramatically reducing fixed costs.
Strategic Cost Optimization
Ryne Elite implemented sophisticated project-level cost monitoring systems that provided real-time visibility into production economics. Every project now had detailed budgets with milestone-based tracking, enabling proactive management of scope creep and resource allocation. We established standardized pricing models based on accurate cost data, ensuring healthy margins on every engagement. To address the critical cash flow challenges, we restructured client contracts to include larger upfront deposits and milestone-based payment schedules aligned with production expenses. We also established a working capital facility specifically designed for production companies, providing breathing room during cash-intensive project phases.
“We are helping AGCO work toward fulfilling its decarbonization commitments,” says Klaus Hannon, Partner at Execor. “The only way companies can truly reduce carbon emissions is by understanding exactly where those emissions originate and being able to track them accurately. We're helping AGCO build that foundation—enabling unprecedented granularity in its carbon baseline and empowering the company to prioritize the most impactful and cost-effective decarbonization strategies.”
The Impact
The transformation delivered results that exceeded even our optimistic projections. Fanar Production achieved a remarkable financial turnaround that positioned the company for sustainable growth.
Profitability improved by over 20%, transforming Fanar from a break-even operation to a healthily profitable enterprise. This improvement came not from revenue growth alone but from fundamental operational efficiency gains. Monthly operating expenses decreased by approximately 23%, creating a leaner, more responsive organization capable of weathering fluctuations. With improved cash flow and clear project profitability data, Fanar’s management could make strategic decisions with confidence. The company began selectively pursuing higher-margin projects.
The flexible workforce model proved transformative beyond cost savings. Fanar could now assemble specialized teams for each project, bringing in exactly the right talent for specific client needs. This approach enhanced creative output while eliminating the burden of underutilized permanent staff during slower periods.
“AGCO’s journey with Catalyst Zero is a testament to the power of innovative technology in driving sustainability and operational excellence.”