Revenue slide for Deloitte
ACCOUNTANCY giant Deloitte yesterday said its revenues slid by 2 per cent in the year to the end of May, as the financial crisis weighed on its tax and corporate finance activities.
Senior partner John Connolly reported profits distributable to partners of the firm of £601m, and revenues of £1,970m, in a blow to his bid to overtake rival Pricewaterhouse-Coopers as the UK’s biggest practice. Deloitte (PwC) is currently the number two player.
Connolly described the performance as “satisfactory in extremely tough markets.” He added that he anticipated “only a fragile and slow recovery”.
In the annual figures the group said net revenues, the total income from billing clients minus the fees that were paid back out on the clients’ behalf, remained the same at £1.7bn.
Net revenues at the tax arm fell 7 per cent, and corporate finance saw a decline of 9 per cent. But the audit division saw a 7 per cent net revenue rise, while the consulting division rose by 3 per cent. Net profits distributable to partners at the firm fell by 6.1 per cent over the year and the average profit made per partner fell by 7.5 per cent to £883,000.
Deloitte’s rivals – Ernst & Young, KPMG and the biggest player PwC – are also expected to report flat or slightly declining growth next month.