MHA, the UK and Irish arm of Baker Tilly International, saw revenue jump by nearly 30 per cent to £180m, with audit and tax being the main drivers to the growth.
The firm reported revenue for the year end 31 March 2024 which was 27 per cent up on the £142m reported in the previous year. Over the last four years, the firm has doubled its revenue from £90m (2020) to £180m (2024).
All of MHA’s service lines showed growth, but it was audit and tax with the strongest performances: audit and assurance was up 49 per cent from last year, while tax was up by 20 per cent.
Rakesh Shaunak, group chairman and managing partner, noted that “our organic growth strategy is working”, with the firm recently expanding into Ireland. The aim for Ireland is to act as a gateway into Europe for the firm.
All of the firm’s top six sectors grew significantly over the last 12 months, as pharma and live sciences (125 per cent), financial services (50 per cent), technology (42 per cent), manufacturing (36 per cent), construction and real estate (24 per cent) and consumer products (15 per cent).
In addition to opening up in Ireland, which increased it headcount to 1820 people across 24 offices with 136 partners, the firm expanded into Scotland and Wales.
Shaunak explained these are “areas we targeted” because of “what I call outreach to infill”. He noted the firm is very London and Home countries concentrated and has therefore been looking to increase the firm’s presence “footprint by geographic footprint”.
He explained that as part of the strategy is “to see more consolidation of our core sectors” and to actively look into the South West. “The major gap that we feel remains is the South West… and we’re actively pursuing a strategy as to how we sort of penetrate that market,” he explained.