Grant Thornton UK has reported a 13% raise of its fee income to £471m in the year to 30 June 2013.
Grant Thornton UK chief executive Scott Barnes attributed the growth to the strong advisory services performance (up 21%) with, forensic, business risk services and public sector services as top advisory performers.
The firm also reported fee income increase of 9% in audit which Barnes partly attributed to the work acquired from the abolished Audit Commission.
"We had about 2/3 of the year of Audit Commission work in the numbers as we took on the people and started working on it last October. We expect revenues from Audit Commission work to increase in the next year," Barnes told the International Accounting Bulletin.
Barnes also said that audit fee pressure continued to be strong and that debates such as the UK Competition Commission’s audit market concentration inquiry have helped towards encouraging companies to put their audits out to tender.
Barnes said tax services were flat year-on-year, which is partly down to less transactions work.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalData"There was a slight decline in services such as corporate finance advisory and M&A work, which are reducing year-on year. This might improve a bit in the coming year but it still quite patchy. I would expect to be more transactions for next year," Barnes said.
Grant Thornton UK also said distributable profits rose 6% over the period and the average profit per partner rose by 4.2%.
New competitors
Barnes said that due to the strong performance he expects the firm to still be ahead of new competitors Baker Tilly UK and BDO UK, which have both almost doubled in size through recent M&A activity. BDO UK merged with PKF UK earlier in the year and Baker Tilly UK has just bought RSM Tenon in pre-pack deal in August.
"Those two deals have created bigger businesses. We are probably about £100m bigger that those two firms given our growth," Barnes said.
He also said he is not surprised by these moves as firms are finding it increasingly hard to grow organically.
Despite the increase in consolidation Barnes said the firm has no large scale deals in mind.
"We will continue looking for niche acquisitions that support our strategy," he added.
