Profit at the UK arm of Big Four giant Deloitte rose during its latest financial year despite its revenue falling as it made “changes” to its structure.
For the year to 31 May, 2025, Deloitte posted a revenue of £5.68bn, down from the £5.75bn it raked in during the prior 12 months.
However, despite the reduction in revenue and the “continued economic headwinds”, the firm’s distributable profit was up by four per cent to from £756m to £789m.
Following a drop of over five per cent in its average profit per equity partner (PEP) in 2024, the firm recovered to see its PEP increase by four per cent to £1.051m (FY24: £1.012m).
Deloitte’s tax and legal business recorded a seven per cent revenue growth from £1.25bn to £1.33bn.
Its audit and assurance revenue grew by three per cent from £941m to £969m, and its strategy, risk and transactions advisory business revenue increased by three per cent to £901m.
However, it was its technology and transformation business that experienced a “tougher market” after revenue fell by 10 per cent to £1.67bn, “as clients held back investments in large-scale change programmes”.
Richard Houston, Deloitte UK senior partner and CEO, said: “This is a robust set of results in a complex market.
“Geopolitics and continued economic headwinds meant that many organisations have been carefully managing their costs and delaying certain investments.
“In light of this, we have had to review and make changes to the shape of our firm, but we’ve remained resilient with notable client successes across our businesses.”
Houston also highlighted that Deloitte makes “a significant contribution to public finances” through taxes paid by the firm and its partners.
He said its total UK tax contribution was £1.78bn in FY25, which consisted of £1.14bn of taxes collected on behalf of HMRC and £643m of taxes related to equity partners.
Tech revenue falls by 10 per cent
In its media statement, Deloitte said that in response to continued economic headwinds it ‘not only focused on the effective use of technology but also on its ability to transform at scale and operate more cost-effectively’.
The firm stated that it continued to hire in areas of growth, with 3,160 new employees in the UK, including more than 1,900 graduates, apprentices and interns.
It added that 5,500 UK colleagues, out of its 26,000 people, were promoted this year, with 60 of them being promoted to partner.
Deloitte also converted 77 people from salaried to equity partnership, nearly three times as many as the 29 it converted the previous year.
Unlike EY UK, the firm did not mention its layoffs, which reportedly included around 250 employees in the UK, who were identified as being at risk of a round of redundancies in October last year.
The Big Four firm did state it invested £253m in salary increases and bonus payments, as well as over £64m in learning and development, up from nearly £63m in 2024.
It was reported in May that staff bonuses at Deloitte would take the firm’s 2025 performance in each of its arms into account, as a leaked memo stated the 2025 financial year was “below our original plan,” though “slightly ahead of last year”.
Going forward, the firm highlighted its continued commitment to the UK’s nations and regions with new offices in Bristol and Aberdeen, alongside four new technology delivery centres in Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle.
The new tech centres are part of its accelerated investment in technology (£158m invested in FY25 vs £135m in FY24), which also includes our own GenAI platform, PairD.
The firm said it is now generating over one million prompts per month from Deloitte UK employees alone.
“The pace of change in our markets, technology and client expectations mean we must continue to transform our firm for the future…I’m confident that we have the agility and resilience to ensure our firm, and our clients, successfully navigate the year ahead,” Houston added.