- Eighth consecutive year of revenue growth as 5,000 new people join the firm, including over 1,700 graduates and school-leavers
- Launch of internal centre of excellence for robotic process automation and artificial intelligence studio;
- Continued investment in audit quality as firm’s FTSE 100 audit market share rises to 27%;
- Contribution of £5.7 million to charities and social enterprises, whilst supporting over 340,000 people to access education and employment through social impact strategy;
Across the service lines, Audit and Risk Advisory revenues grew by 10.2% to £1,027m, Consulting increased by 1.7% to £873m, and Tax saw its revenue rise by 5.8% to £732m. Financial Advisory remained at £459m. Deloitte Switzerland saw growth of 11.4% to £489m.
David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte North West Europe, said: “This is a good result in a market facing slower economic growth and continued uncertainty. Tax revenues have been boosted by demand for M&A, private client and employment-related services work, as well as demand for digital solutions to global compliance obligations, where we are continuing to invest. Following the launch of our UK legal services, we are also growing our offering in immigration, employment services, corporate dispute and resolutions, alongside a focus on ‘new law’ services.
“Financial Advisory advised on over 100 M&A deals with a total value in excess of £40bn, and on 50% [2] of main market IPOs. We saw strong growth in Transaction Services, Portfolio Lending and Debt Advisory services, driven by the buoyancy of the M&A market, in addition to continuing growth in Financial Crime services.
“Our Risk Advisory business saw an increase in demand for cyber and regulatory advice, while Consulting was focused on reinforcing its leading position in delivering digital transformation programmes for clients. The business integrated new additions including creative agency Acne and proposition design consultancy Market Gravity into Deloitte Digital, whilst continuing to build its alliances in the market with Apple and McLaren Applied Technologies.
“The audit profession has faced significant scrutiny in the past year, with concerns raised over quality, conflicts of interest and a lack of choice. These are serious concerns and we recognise the need for change. We must look at how the audits of the future match the evolving needs of stakeholders and society and address increasing business complexity. We have continued to invest in training and technology to help our 4,300 audit professionals deliver the highest quality audits and are proud to audit 27% of the FTSE 100.
“Switzerland continued on its exceptional growth, fuelled by high demand for business transformation programmes, end-to-end M&A, technology-enabled and cyber security solutions. We also saw further strong growth in Switzerland’s Audit & Assurance and Tax & Legal businesses.”
David Sproul added: “From an innovation perspective, this was an exciting year as we developed an internal centre of excellence for robotic process automation as well as an artificial intelligence studio. Both will help businesses, as well as ourselves, improve efficiency and effectiveness at a lower cost.
“This year also saw the launch of Deloitte Ventures, an advisory service team working with a community of over 100 external start-ups to help businesses solve complex challenges. We’ve done this because emerging technologies are rewriting the rules and changing the way business is done, so we are co-creating and co-investing with leading corporations to build new partnerships, platforms and products.”
Pauline Biddle, managing partner for regional markets, says:“We have a truly enviable regional business with over 6,000 incredibly talented people led by 269 partners delivering outstanding work across our regions and countries[3]. Over the past two years the regions have led the way with an uptick in revenue, which is fantastic given the current economic backdrop.
“This growth sends a strong message to our clients that we have the skills and capabilities both in and outside of London to deliver world-class advice across all our service lines, no matter where their business is based.”
Commenting on developments in Cambridge and the South East, Regional Practice Senior Partner, Paul Schofield (pictured) said: “The pattern of growth has mirrored the national trend. Our key focus has been investment in our teams, in particular in Audit, along with other investments to further drive audit quality. We have welcomed a new International Audit Partner Chris Aylott, into Cambridge.
"In Cambridge we have also continued our investment in the wider community, with our team making a positive impact locally with charities and local schools. Fundraising and volunteering with Action for Children in particular, has enabled to staff to engage with many different projects. Over the next few weeks, the firm will be involved in Action for Children’s Byte Night, a Cambridge office Impact day, Chariots of Fire and Deloitte Ride Across Britain.”
Recruitment, Talent and Diversity
In the last financial year 5,000 people joined Deloitte, with nearly 2,000 of them based outside of London. Of the 5,000, over 1,700 were graduates and school-leavers, including 270 BrightStart apprentices, Deloitte’s programme for school-leavers.
The firm invested close to £40m in learning and development this year, and introduced new formal working arrangements, including annualised days contracts, as part of its agile working agenda. It also continued its mental health support initiatives.
Emma Codd, Deloitte’s managing partner for talent, said: “Since we introduced agile working, the number of formal agile workers has risen by around 30%, from around 850 people in 2014 to over 1,100 today, with 27% of women at or above senior manager level having such an arrangement. Our approach is underpinned by three simple principles – trust and respect; open and honest communication and judging solely on output.
“Deloitte has also continued its long-standing commitment to raising awareness of mental health issues. Working with Mental Health First Aid England, 530 of Deloitte’s senior leaders have completed training to spot the signs of poor mental health and signpost the support available to our people.”
Social impact strategy, One Million Futures
Deloitte contributed £5.7 million to charities and social enterprises this year, whilst supporting over 340,000 people through the firm’s social impact strategy.
David Sproul said: “We’re now over two years into our One Million Futures strategy, and almost halfway towards our target of supporting one million people to get to where they want to be through education and employment. Over a third of our people volunteered to support the programme.”
[1] All revenue numbers presented herein have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and IFRS Interpretation Committee interpretations, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, and are unaudited.
[2] 50% relates to premium main market IPOs over £25m (excluding Aim and standard); and excluding investment companies (i.e. investment companies, venture capital trust, transfers from other markets, cash shells, etc.).
[3] Regions and countries includes five English regions and Scotland & NI
About Deloitte
In this press release references to “Deloitte” are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”) a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity.
Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.
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About Deloitte North West Europe
Deloitte North West Europe (NWE) is the second largest member firm in the Deloitte network, combining operations in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), Switzerland and the UK.
Created in June 2017, and with Ireland having joined in June 2018, Deloitte NWE combines our unmatched breadth and depth of capabilities in audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, and tax across the region. As our clients operate in a more globally connected way than ever before, Deloitte NWE is a bold step in helping us provide a seamless cross-border service. Deloitte NWE brings together over 35,000 people and 2,000 partners, providing us with the scale, and the means, to increase our investment in the innovation our clients need.
It is also creating more opportunity and growth for our people, and playing an important part in helping us to embed quality consistently in all we do. Central to our firm is our commitment to our global purpose: to make an impact that matters for our clients, our people and society.