Group to focus on corporate recovery

The group, which last year bought Leeds-based professional services firm RSM Bentley Jennison for about 76m, said it also plans to move to the main market from AIM by late May or early June.

Its turnaround arm grew revenues by 20 per cent to 23.2m as more businesses struggled, and RSM believes insolvencies will peak in two or three years.

RSM posted flat first-half adjusted profit of 8.8m in the six months to the end of December. Revenue from continuing operations fell two per cent to 73.5m.

The company said the integration of RSM provided an opportunity for further margin and revenue increase over the next 12 months.

It expects to complete the integration by June 2011 and sees more than 10m in cost savings.

Neil Sevitt, managing director of RSM in Leeds, said: "Our interim results for the six months to December 2009, culminating in the merger with RSM Bentley Jennison, have created a superb platform for growth for 2010 and beyond. Integration of our enlarged RSM Tenon business is ahead of original plans in both timescales and cost savings.

"Through scale, geographic reach and breadth of service offering, RSM Tenon is now positioned as the seventh-largest accountancy and business advisory firm in the UK. In Yorkshire we now have over 300 people giving a clear opportunity for further margin and revenue enhancement."

Nationwide, the practice has more than 50 offices and nearly 3,000 staff. At the end of December, total bank facilities of 75m were available, of which only 48 per cent was used, RSM said.