Deloitte sees revenue growth as confidence and investment rises

The Big Four accountancy firm, which has offices in Leeds and Newcastle, said revenues rose to £96m in the year ending May 31 2014.

Nationally, the firm reported a 1.4 per cent rise in revenue to £2.55bn, up from £2.52bn in 2013, while profit-per-partner was £750,000, down by 2.8 per cent on the previous year.

Martin Jenkins, practice senior partner in Yorkshire and North East, said: “Whilst the market environment has continued to present challenges, the economic tide has clearly turned and we are seeing confidence increase and willingness to invest across our client base, especially as liquidity has been strong in both debt and equity capital markets.

“Our practice in Yorkshire has seen growth across all businesses and our strategy of investing to grow our practice is reflected in the progress we have made in key sectors for our region such as financial services, manufacturing, consumer business and the public sector. Looking ahead, we expect that better economic conditions will result in significant improvements across our markets.”

Mr Jenkins added that Deloitte saw a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions last year across both private equity and corporate clients and the re-emergence of IPO activity, with the practice supporting clients such as Zenith, Innovia, Lowell Group, Cattles, Allied Glass, Kromek plc, Hg Capital and LDC on key transactions.

“The first quarter of this financial year has seen the momentum in M&A continue with the firm advising Skipton Building Society on the sale of HML and Endless on the acquisition of o2o plc,” he said.

During the year the regional office promoted five new partners and nine new directors. It plans to employ 100 people over the next two years at its national Audit Centre for Excellence in Newcastle as well as 50 new graduates and six school leavers in September.

Nationally, Chancellor George Osborne opened Deloitte Digital’s new offices in Clerkenwell which is headed up by Leeds based consulting partner, Paul Thompson.

Deloitte expects the digital business to double in size by the end of next year as it helps businesses to develop technology software, products and digital services. The firm has created 500 new positions which will be filled before the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, Deloitte launched its national CEO innovation challenge to encourage staff to put forward innovative business ideas.

Leeds senior manager Charlotte Desourdy came up with an idea for a new online-based service for the Audit Advisory practice, which was one of five winning ideas selected for investment by the firm.

It has also launched its next generation CFO programme, which provides participants with an insight into the role and requirements of chief financial officers. Mr Jenkins said: “This year, we extended the programme to include CIOs (chief information officers) and next year we will go further, providing similar support to future chief procurement officers.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire and North East was the first regional office to host the Deloitte CEO Growth Escalator Programme, part of its UK Futures Initiative, which helps business leaders bridge the gap between their ambitions and outcomes in growth markets.

It also launched Deloitte Access, a new education programme with Teach First, supporting young people to access professional employment. It is working with Tong High School in Bradford to help pupils develop the skills to access the best opportunities after education.