Deloitte boosted by surge in M&A and corporate distress
Professional services group increases global revenues as Covid crisis fuels need for advice
Deloitte received a boost to global revenues from a series of mandates advising distressed companies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group increased revenue by 5.5 per cent to $50.2bn in the year to the end of May and expanded its workforce by 3.2 per cent, taking total staff numbers to more than 345,000.
The company said its financial advisory business had grown fastest because of high demand for corporate advice during the coronavirus crisis and a boom in M&A activity towards the end of 2020 and start of 2021.
Revenues at the division rose 13 per cent. Deloitte said the unit had advised on “thousands of distressed and Covid-19 related mandates” and “thousands of transactions during the merger wave of 2020”. The group’s larger consulting division lifted revenues by 5 per cent.
Professional services businesses were deluged with demand for restructuring advice during the crisis as companies sought to renegotiate debts and sell off business units. Towards the end of 2020 a surge in dealmaking also generated fees for corporate and M&A advisers including among the Big Four and large international law firms.
Financial services clients contributed almost a third of Deloitte’s total revenue, at 27 per cent, while Asia-Pacific grew faster than any other region, by 14 per cent.