Deloitte sees revenues lift for seventh year running

Accountancy major Deloitte has boosted its revenues by £340 million '“ or 11 per cent '“ to £3.38 billion, the seventh successive year of growth, as it today hailed a 'transformative' period in Scotland.

Senior partner Steve Williams hailed a 'transformative' year for Deloitte in Scotland. Picture: Chris Watt

The results mark the second year running of double-digit growth, with UK consulting revenues rising 13.6 per cent to £859m in the 12 months to end-May 2017.

Audit and risk advisory work revenue also lifted 13 per cent to £932m, and financial advisory rose 1.5 per cent to £459m.

• READ MORE: Financial news

Deloitte, which employs about 600 in Scotland including main offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, opened its Greenhouse and Digital Studio in the Scottish capital in the period.

Deloitte expects to add another 20 designers and software engineers to the new facilities over the next 12 months. In June, the group bought the seven-strong Leith digital design consultancy Market Gravity.

• READ MORE: Deloitte snaps up design consultancy Market Gravity

Steve Williams, Deloitte’s senior partner in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “The last 12 months have been transformative for us in Scotland, as we’ve added a completely new range of capabilities to our offering and made steady progress across the country.”

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He said the opening of the Deloitte Greenhouse was a “pivotal moment” for the Scottish practice, enabling its clients to develop business-transforming digital and non-digital products.

Earlier this year, the firm hosted its inaugural Disrupt the Enterprise event in Scotland and hosted the country’s first-ever Datathon, as it sought to support and capitalise on the burgeoning fintech and wider technology sectors.

• READ MORE: How Deloitte is firing up fintech innovation in Scotland

David Sproul, chief executive of Deloitte, said the latest UK-wide results were “a good performance in a complex and uncertain market, which has been impacted by Brexit and the elections in the US and UK”.

Audit work contracts won by the group this year include BAE Systems, BP, Centrica and GlaxoSmithKline, giving it a 26 per cent share of the FTSE 100 audit market.

Distributable profit for 2017 was flat year on year at £608m and average profit per equity partner was £865,000.

Sproule added that the risk advisory business had seen rising demand from clients for supplier risk, cyber and regulatory advice.

Deloitte’s financial advisory arm advised on 87 merger and acquisition deals in the year, with a total value of more than £7bn.

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