Property work helps PwC boost revenues by 3%

Work related to the restructure of UK Coal and administration of the Opal Property Group helped professional services firm PwC to increase revenues by 3% from £2.621bn to £2.689bn in the year to June 30.

The firm's assurance practice, which includes the audit business, grew 1% to £969m, tax grew by 3% to £680m, deals remained constant at £562m, reflecting the relatively flat M&A market, and consulting grew by 9% to £478m.

Profit for the year was £740m, up from £727m in 2012.

The firm, which has over 600 employees in Manchester and 70 in Liverpool, welcomed five new partners, nine directors and created 55 graduate and Higher Apprenticeship posts in 2013.

Among its key projects, the North West deals teams advised some of the region's highest profile deals including; the sale of Goody Good Stuff to Swedish confectionary firm Cloetta, the investment of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice into B&M Retail, the investment of ECI into Clarke Energy and Bargain Booze's IPO.

Manchester-based partner David Kelly was lead advisor in the restructuring of UK Coal, saving over 2000 jobs at eight mines across the UK.

The business recovery services team also led the administration of Opal Property Group in the region.

Its tax and human resource services practice, which has over 140 specialists in the North West, had a strong year with particular success coming from its M&A, pensions and employment tax teams.

Iwan Griffiths, PwC's North West chairman, said: "The business environment in the region remains tough and our growth across all our businesses demonstrates the value our clients place on the range and depth of our expertise.



"We've focused on delivering the expertise our clients need through on-going investment in our people.

"Our raft of promotions and key appointments, such as public sector specialist Jon House and former Morrisons IT programmes director Phil Goodwin, reflect our strategy of building the right team of experts so that we can continue to help our clients achieve their objectives, grow and support the wider economic recovery.

"Investment in our local community remains a priority and this year has seen the launch of our 'Under 26' discount ticket scheme with The Halle. In addition we were very proud to support the charity Wellbeing of Women, and are funding a research project into womb cancer at the University of Manchester.

"We continue to invest significant time and resource into a number of North West social enterprises helping them to succeed and, in turn, contribute to the region."