PPP up 15% for Grant Thornton as full year revenue rises for fifth year in a row
GRANT Thornton has recorded a fifth successive year of strong results, with revenue up 9% to £512m and average pre-tax profit per partner up by 15% to £402k.
The business advisory firm said it was now on course to hit its Ambition 2015’s turnover target one year early.
The predominantly organic growth comes on the back of double digit performance in the previous two years and contributes strongly to the firm’s international arm.
Growth in the UK was driven in large by continued strengthening of the Advisory practice, which grew 15%. The firm also saw its Audit practice improve by 4% while turnover from its Tax offering remained broadly flat year on year.
Profits for the year ended June 30, 2014 were up 7.7% in absolute terms and on a like for like basis average pre-tax profit per partner was up by 15% to £402k. Distributable profit per partner was up by 10% to £385k after accounting for the changes to the taxation of employee service companies which occurred mid-way through the year. The firm’s total contribution to the Exchequer in respect of all taxes was £169.4m, with an average rate of tax paid per partner estimated at 42.5%.
Dave Munton, regional managing partner in Birmingham, said: “These are yet another very strong set of results for the firm and reflect our clear strategy to be the leading advisor in the markets within which we operate. Locally, our results broadly mirror those of the wider firm, with turnover increasing by 14% year on year and growth across all of our Audit, Tax and Advisory streams.”
He added that the firm now had a strong platform on which to grow the business further through the current year.
During the year the firm staged a series of growth summits for mid-sized businesses (MSBs), including one in Birmingham. As a result of these summits, the firm launched its Agents of Growth research and manifesto to the Government on behalf of MSBs.
The firm said it hoped that if implemented, this would boost growth within the UK’s MSB sector.
“Over the course of the year MPs and Ministers have started to sit up and take notice, and we are delighted to be participating in on-going policy discussions in regard to this often overlooked, but core segment of the economy,” added Munton.
During the year Grant Thornton in the UK appointed 42 new partners and directors, 276 new trainees (both graduates and school leavers) and 116 paid interns joined the firm.
