Speaking at the BPIF Finance & Investment Conference, Hilton opened proceedings by looking at the lessons that could be learned from previous downturns: "Recessions are normal and they do come to an end. The 15 years of uninterrupted growth from 1993 to 2008 was the abnormality."

The event, held at the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry yesterday (2 February), had a packed agenda featuring 10 speakers and two workshops.

Paragon Group chairman Conor Donnelly spoke about the £140m group's relentless focus on return on capital employed and cash management.

"Return on capital is the only figure I look at – if you're getting it you're okay," he stated, while highlighting the "absolute necessity" of staying close to customers and understanding their businesses and sector.

"Every customer has a problem, and understanding those problems is a big opportunity," he said, revealing that price cutting was one of the "big sins" across the industry overall. "A sale with no profit is not a sale, it's a giveaway – not making any profit on a sale is the beginning of the end to me."

Delegates also heard from Nick Young, principal at Beer & Young, a specialist in raising alternative funding for companies in distress via informal investors.

He quipped about the appearance of a new lender in the market – HMRC, but also gave a warning: "Companies have enjoyed their attitude for the past 18 months, but that attitude is changing."

Begbies Traynor sales director Marc O'Driscoll, during a workshop he presented on risk management, also revealed that, in 2009, the number of print and packaging companies flagged as having "significant problems" increased by 8%, to 9,011.