Global professional services firm EY reported fiscal year 2015 earnings this week, and business is good, with notable growth across all four service lines and geographic areas.
The firm produced combined global revenues of $28.7 billion for its financial year ended June 30th 2015. This figure was an 11.6% increase over FY 2014 revenues in local currency, topping FY14 growth (which was up by 6.8% over FY13).
Highlights of EY’s annual report include all four service lines moving ahead of their FY14 growth: Advisory was up 17.6% (compared to 14.4% growth in FY14); Assurance was up 8.1% (compared to 4.5% in FY14); Transaction Advisory Services was up 15.5% (compared to 6.5% in FY14); and the Tax service group was up 10.3% (compared to 4.3% in FY14).
Statement from EY CEO
In a statement released Tuesday, Mark Weinberger, Chairman and CEO of EY, noted:
“This year we realized strong gains across both developed and emerging markets, despite volatile conditions in many individual markets and a slowing global economy. We are proud of this year’s results, which saw fast-paced growth across all of our businesses and in each geographic area. Under our Vision 2020 strategy, we have been very explicit about our purpose of building a better working world and this has given us great momentum both inside and outside the organization. It has helped us attract, retain and motivate our people. Our purpose has also been valuable as we engage with our clients and in guiding our successful work on their complex issues.”
Solid revenue growth across all sectors
The statement noted that despite a sputtering global economy, EY saw its greatest revenue growth in the last seven years.
The exceptionally strong performance in developed markets was led by the U.S., which was up 12.5% to U$11.2 billion in revs (biggest increase in a decade). The U.S. operation saw a strong performance across all service lines, sectors and geographies.
The UK also saw solid growth, driven by new major accounts in the audit practice, as well as the strength of its TAS and Tax businesses. EY’ Australian, German and Italian firms all enjoyed double digit revenue growth last year.
The firm’s emerging market practices grew by 12.3% overall (8.7% in 2014), despite trying economic conditions in several major emerging market economies. India powered the EMs forward with a sparkling 19.7% growth in FY 2015. Other strong EMs were ASEAN (12.9%), Africa (11.3%), Mexico & Central America (17.3%) and Middle East & North Africa (14.7%).
Of note, revenues were up in all four of EY’s geographic areas: the Americas saw 12.3% revenue growth; Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa saw 11.6%; Asia-Pacific enjoyed 11.2%; and Japan lagged at just 4.6% rev growth.
