Gold & Wild

When Jon Davies, founder of Gold & Wild, found his business growing at breakneck speed, the numbers didn’t just grow. They got away from him. His award-winning landscaping and gardening service had seen revenues leap from £140k to £1.4m in just three years.

The growth outpaced the company’s systems, leaving Jon without clarity, with debts beginning to build. The business was blooming on the surface but underneath it was tangled in complexity and exposed to financial risk.

He turned to Panthera Accounting. What began as a referral from a trusted contact quickly became a vital partnership. Today, Panthera supports Gold & Wild with robust accounting, financial guidance and reporting that delivers clarity, structure and confidence.

Scaling without systems

After a high-profile showing at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2023, Gold & Wild’s visibility and demand surged. The showpiece garden captured imaginations and opened doors, but the business wasn’t ready to scale at that pace. Large sums began to flow in – but so did pressures, expectations, and risks.

Behind the scenes, Jon was trying to make decisions based on gut instinct alone. There was no easy way to track profitability, spot issues, or model the future. Growth had brought prestige but it also magnified underlying weaknesses in how the business was managed financially.

“We 10x-ed the business in three years, but I didn’t have all the understanding I needed to handle it,” he said. “Suddenly I had large sums in the account and I didn’t have the financial maturity to really know what was going on. I didn’t have the instinct any more for what was making a profit, and what wasn’t.”

The business was bringing in lots of work, but with no clear systems. Jon had no way to tell which projects were helping or harming the bottom line. He was hiring, spending, delivering and drawing from the business – all without a proper handle on the financial reality.

His previous accountant focused solely on compliance and didn’t provide the insight or intervention needed. “They simply weren’t giving me the vital information that was needed,” was how he put it. With no project-level visibility and no forward view Jon found himself slipping into debt. Payments to HMRC were missed. Director’s loans grew. The stress built – and the warning signs were easy to ignore without clear reporting.

Shared language and accountability

From the first meeting Jon found that Tory Wagg, Panthera’s founder and managing director, could communicate in a way that worked for him. As a creative entrepreneur, he valued being able to talk through the numbers in more instinctive terms, using metaphors and rhythms that made sense to him. “I’m not a conventional businessperson. I’m a musician, and a creative. I feel that Tory has that in her soul too – she probably sees numbers the way I see music. We speak the same language,” Jon explained.

That connection gave him confidence that Panthera could guide him through the financial challenges ahead. “Tory is not what you expect from a normal accountant. She describes things to me in ways that I actually understand. She also gets what I’m trying to do, and that there will be some risks along the way, but helps and encourages me to push on,” he added.

Beyond the books, Panthera became a sounding board and guide. Jon describes the relationship as part financial partnership, part coaching support. “She became an accountability partner,” he said.

As his financial reality became clearer, Jon began to re-centre his thinking. With support from Panthera, he separated emotional anxiety from practical decision-making. Instead of reacting to cash position alone, he began planning proactively.

Seeing the numbers clearly

When Panthera introduced a Xero Projects-based structure it was a breakthrough moment. For the first time, Jon had visibility of financial performance at job level. It was a transformative shift.

He could now separate labour costs, materials, overheads and fees – and instantly understand which types of work were truly profitable.

“It completely changed the game,” Jon noted. “Now we can dip into each job, see where we’re at, and make decisions based on facts.”

This job-level insight fed into everything: quoting, scheduling, team management, even hiring. Jon became far more confident about taking on larger projects, knowing the numbers could be tracked in real time.

Panthera also addressed Jon’s immediate tax and debt pressures. They worked directly with HMRC to set up realistic repayment terms to resolve the issues and helped Jon understand directors’ loans.

“Panthera sat down with me and said: here’s what you need to hit each month, for your business, your family and your future,” he recalled.

Together, they modelled minimum targets, likely scenarios and aspirational outcomes – all grounded in real data and delivered through reports Jon could easily digest.

Flexing around growth

Today, Panthera supports Gold & Wild at a rhythm that suits the business with monthly meetings and active monitoring.

Jon particularly values the way the reports are laid out. Instead of spreadsheets packed with rows Panthera presents visuals, summaries, and benchmarking that highlight what matters most.

“Panthera does really good diagrams and has tailored the information they present each month, so the reports are getting better and better,” Jon said. “We can see where we’re at, even compared to other companies. It helps us stay focused and the profit level improved.”

Panthera also created new clarity around director income and long-term planning. The goal wasn’t just to solve the current crisis, but to give Jon the tools to thrive through whatever came next – and the value quickly showed. A winter slowdown hit just as Jon faced time away from the business for an operation.

Cash flow dipped, but this time the business was prepared. He said, “We always had a forecast – but it was pretty useless. Our forecast is now a proper, solid model for decisions. So when the dip happened Tory could use that and help me see: this is what we need to do to make up the shortfall. So, we could bounce back.”

Seeding confidence and optimism

The business still experiences peaks and troughs – that’s the nature of projectbased work in a seasonal industry. But Jon is no longer driving blind. With the clarity provided by Panthera’s systems and the reassurance of real support, he now leads from a position of understanding.

“Before, I didn’t even know what I needed to earn on each job to make a profit. Now I do,” he reflected. “I can handle dips and peaks, because I’ve got a grip on what’s really happening. We’ve had some incredible months.”

He now builds in buffers. He knows how much he needs to earn to cover fixed costs, how long different types of project take to become profitable and how to pace the work year-round.

Jon stated: “I’m really optimistic now, because of the way we work, we are conscious of what’s happening, and because I know what to do.”

“In the current climate it’s not all plain sailing, of course – but I feel safer charting our course with Tory’s conscious accounting strategy supporting me.”

A long-term partner for sustainable growth

Panthera continues to support Jon with regular financial guidance, strategic input, and a calm voice when things get busy. The systems they’ve put in place have helped create firm ground on which the group can grow.

The team has expanded, and so have Jon’s ambitions. Now the firm is rooted in clear planning and a shared understanding of what sustainable success looks like.

He reflected, “Many will say that the Chelsea Flower Show is the peak of a gardening career. For us, it’s a stepping stone towards our vision of the future of landscaping and what future cities need.”

Jon acknowledged the value of having the right accountant on board. “If you want to grow, you need someone like Tory in your corner.”

Panthera is helping Gold & Wild become business that’s not only creative and award-winning but financially grounded, operationally sound, and ready for what comes next.