Revenue climbs to nearly £2.2bn but profits dip for KPMG

Revenue has climbed to £2.172bn for professional services giant KPMG, although a raft of investment write-offs and one-off expenses has led to a 19% reduction in profits.

In the year to September 30, pre-tax profits were down from £374m in 2016 to £301m, leading to a fall in average patner remuneration from £582,000 to £519,000.

The chairman’s pay was £1.4m, which reflects nine months remuneration for the former chairman Simon Collins and three months remuneration for the current chairman, Bill Michael.

KPMG UK continued to make significant contributions to a multi-year global investment programme.

This year KPMG International invested more than £744m in new services, technology, alliances and acquisitions, focused particularly on digital and analytics, strategy, cyber security, digital labour and audit.

Manchester office senior partner Nicola Quayle said: “In line with the wider firm, our business across the North of England delivered a solid performance over the course of the year, with revenue growth of 6%, building on the strong performance of the last two years.

“We enjoyed good growth in our audit practice and are particularly delighted with our performance in competitive tenders over the year, securing the audit of sports information services (SIS) and retaining the audit of Manchester Airport Group, plus we also saw further significant wins amongst our privately-owned business client base.

“Our consulting teams also had a particularly good year, driven by increased demand from clients for advice on pressing issues such as GDPR and cyber security.

“Our market-leading M&A teams continue to lead on some of the region’s highest profile transactions, including advising on the merger of Booker with Tesco, and leading on the disposals of Utiligroup and Biocomposites.

“And while our restructuring team performed well against the backdrop of a relatively stable market, all the signs are that their pipeline for 2018 looks strong – perhaps an indication that gathering economic headwinds and geopolitical change is starting to impact companies’ bottom lines.

“Most importantly, we have continued to invest in our people, the backbone of our business. Across the North West, we promoted a total of 123 people including two partners and 11 directors, in addition to welcoming 120 new, entry-level starters.

“For me personally, I am now a quarter in post as Manchester office senior partner, and I have been delighted with the energy and dynamism that I’ve seen across the office in that time.

“And over in Liverpool, we are about to welcome Euan West as the new office senior partner in January, having last week signed a new five-year lease at our Princes Parade home.

“This means that 2018 presents us with an enormous amount of opportunity, and while regulatory and geopolitical change will undoubtedly continue to feature, we are looking to the year ahead full of confidence.”