Annual revenues up 13% at Grant Thornton
ACCOUNTANCY firm Grant Thornton has announced a 13% hike in turnover to £471m for the year to the end of June.
The firm, which has 450 employees in the region at offices in Liverpool and Manchester says the strong performance means it is on track to reach its 2015 target of £500m revenue 12 months early.
By discipline GT’s star performer was its Advisory practice, which grew by 21.2%. Audit had a strong year of growth too, rising by 9.2% but turnover from its Tax division was broadly flat year-on-year.
Distributable profits rose 6% over the period, and average profit per partner rose by 4.2% due to the continued investment in new partners in growing parts of the business.
Les Ross, North West managing partner, said: “Our Manchester and Liverpool offices continue to make a substantial contribution to the firm’s UK growth. A number of our practice areas have performed well in a tough but improving 
market. The rise in advisory activity, with clients getting back into M&A activity has been particularly marked for our corporate finance and transaction advisory services teams.
“Our audit team also grew with the addition of staff transferring across from the Audit Commission following the firm’s success in winning a number of audit contracts for North West public bodies.”
Scott Barnes, chief executive, Grant Thornton UK LLP added: “During the past five years, we’ve pursued a very deliberate strategy of investing in those parts of our business where we could take market leading positions – such as in the public sector audit and financial services space – along with reinforcing our strengths in our core mid-market segment.
“The investment we’ve made in our brand, and ensuring our people understand what it means and how they deliver its values, is now truly paying dividends.”
