Strong Midlands performance boosts Ernst & Young results

BUSINESS adviser Ernst & Young has seen strong growth in the Midlands and made a major contribution to the performance of the group as a whole, the region’s senior partner has said.

Speaking after the firm announced turnover growth of 8% to £1.465bn for the year ended June 30, 2011 (2010: £1.356bn), Sara Fowler said the Midlands practice, which includes offices in Birmingham and Nottingham, had continued to grow over the last year with significant investment in the Tax and Advisory teams in the region.

“The firm has had strong results nationally and that has been mirrored in the Midlands where the business has seen strong growth in revenues over the last year. This is down to the success of both our Advisory and Transaction businesses and the investment we have made in people across our service lines,” she said.

Ms Fowler said the region’s tax team had seen a number of new partner appointments during the year and this would help the firm deliver on its aims of making its tax practice one of the best full service teams in the region.

“In line with Ernst & Young nationally we are also focussing on exports and our Going Global initiative is helping clients to look to new markets abroad to find growth.

“It has been a very positive year for the firm in the Midlands across all of our service lines and our increased headcount puts us in an excellent position going forward,” she said.

For the UK as a whole, Steve Varley, UK managing partner , said the 8% turnover increase was very welcome.

“We made the decision several years ago to increase significantly our investment in our business and once again this year’s growth demonstrates that taking a longer term view pays off,” he said.

“Critical to this growth has been the collaboration across our global organisation as we help our clients expand internationally, especially those seeking to export into high growth markets in the Middle East, India, Russia, China and Brazil. This also reflects our position as the most global business in our industry. Indeed over 10% of our UK partners are currently working in international roles.”

A focus on entrepreneurs has paid off, with the opportunists contributing to a combined annual revenue of £7bn. A number of firms are growing their businesses cross-border through exports and overseas investment.

Ernst & Young’s Assurance business grew by 10% during the year to £444m,  while the Tax practice grew by 3% to £372m.

The Transaction Advisory Services business fell by 2% to £279m reflecting a difficult transaction market. The Advisory business achieved strong growth up 20% to £370m, driven by client demand for services across all sectors.

Average profit per partner rose slightly in line with expectations.

“Among our competitors, we are the only firm that has a consistent, time-tested, global strategy focused on high growth companies.  Now more than ever, our focus on maintaining high quality in all our services remains a key priority. We are committed to making a difference to the overall UK economy,” added Mr Varley.