Yorkshire growth for Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton, which has 300 staff in Sheffield and Leeds, yesterday revealed that it had gained market share from rivals and was preparing for cuts in public spending.

Although Grant Thornton's recovery and reorganisation team increased its revenues, there were fewer insolvencies than expected due to the recession.

Scott Barnes, the Leeds-born chief executive of Grant Thornton, told the Yorkshire Post: "Overall, the practice in Yorkshire has performed ahead of the rest of the firm in terms of growth."

Although Mr Barnes declined to comment on whether the Big Four professional services firms – Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers – had too much influence, he highlighted concerns raised by Business Secretary Vince Cable about "lack of choice" in the legal and accountancy market.

In the year to June 30, Grant Thornton's overall UK turnover was about 380m, which Mr Barnes said was "roughly the same" as last year.

Jonathan Riley, the head of Grant Thornton's Leeds office, said: "Grant Thornton Yorkshire has done well and we are pleased that we have grown our position despite the obviously difficult market conditions. There have been some very strong performances."

Grant Thornton's Yorkshire corporate finance team achieved revenues of 2m in the year to June 30, up from 1m last year.

Mr Riley added: "Although the deals market was extremely tough last year, transaction support service volumes have started to increase considerably in the last six months.

"This is not only a result of more activity but we are taking market share from the 'Big Four' in the large corporate space, working with the likes of CPP, VP, Spice and Fenner."

In April, Grant Thornton advised Mr Hoyle on the disposal of The Card Factory to private equity firm Charterhouse.

In the year to June 30, the Yorkshire operation's tax revenue was 6.5m, an increase on the 6.1m recorded the year before.

Mr Riley said: "Tax planning in anticipation of a change in Government was undoubtedly a major part of this increase but we (also) saw client growth.

"Government infrastructure has performed strongly for several years now as spending in this sector of the economy has increased."

He said Grant Thornton's clients would be focusing on keeping costs low as tough public spending cuts start to bite.

He added: "Income from restructuring has increased from last year but more from review and turnaround services rather than being due to the insolvency market, which hasn't been as busy as suspected or feared."

Revenues in the Yorkshire-based recovery and reorganisation department rose from 3.4m to 3.6m.

Revenues from the Yorkshire-based audit team were 9.9m, compared to 10m last year.

In a joint statement, Mr Riley and Garry Meakin, the head of the Sheffield office said: "There was no forced retrenchment in terms of staff numbers in the last 12 months. Indeed, there has been selective recruitment as opportunities in the market place emerge."

A Grant Thornton spokesman said there had been a handful of job losses due to natural attrition.

Mr Barnes said staff costs across the UK had been reduced after a "very modest programme" of redundancies 18 months ago.

He added: "There have also been reductions in overheads. The impact of all that will be better profits. Altogether revenues in insolvency are up by 20 per cent. The areas that have felt the squeeze are audit and tax. Corporate finance is expected to do better this year."

Mr Barnes said he believed the insolvency practice would start to plateau over the next 12 months.

He added: "Our firm is not heavily involved in big public sector IT business. We do quite a bit of audit work in the public sector but that should remain resilient. The cuts in public sector spending should affect the 'Big Four' more than they will affect us."

Chief Executive with local roots

Scott Barnes became Grant Thornton's first Yorkshire-born chief executive in late 2008. Scott Barnes became Grant Thornton's first Yorkshire-born chief executive in late 2008.

He replaced Michael Cleary, who retired after seven years as chief executive.

Mr Barnes, who was born in Leeds, is an old boy of Batley Grammar School.

He started working at Grant Thornton as an insolvency manager based in Leeds. He joined the London office in the early 1990s, and rose to become London and south east head of insolvency.

Before becoming chief executive, he spent two years working at Grant Thornton International's special advisory services. Although based in Hertfordshire, he still has a flat in Huddersfield.