Solent: BDO Southampton reports ‘particularly good’ financial year

The Southampton office of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP recently ended its financial year with increased revenues of 6.3%, following continued investment, an influx of new starters and a growing and impressive client base.

Malcolm Thixton, partner and head of BDO in Southampton, said: “We have had a particularly good financial year, and I expect our revenue to increase again next year. Our clients are doing very well and continue to invest in growth, which is good news for this region’s economy and particularly the local jobs market.”

BDO in Southampton has won a number of high-profile clients this year including NATS (National Air Traffic Services) and The Southern Co-Operative, which themselves saw a 7.8% rise in sales this past year.

The firm’s key focus has been the central south mid market where it has identified the top companies expanding internationally, achieving sustainable growth and, shortly, those that best represent the breadth of innovation that can be found in the region.

BDO provides a particularly wide range of support to companies from its Southampton office and the team has experienced growth in nearly all areas of the business, in addition to tax and audit, corporate finance and risk advisory services have performed particularly well. The corporate finance team has advised on transactions with a combined value of over £300 million in the past 12 months.

Thixton added: “We continue to invest in our people and our offering, and are committed to providing businesses with the very best service around. We have a nearly 200-strong team here in Southampton, giving businesses access to the depth and breadth of expertise they need to flourish. We anticipate that staff numbers will rise a further 14% in the next 12 months.

“As well as recruiting at a senior level, we are hiring more students now than we have done previously, both as traditional graduates and school and college leavers. We had approximately 15 in our school leaver programme last year and another 15 join us this year across all streams of the business from audit and tax to advisory services.

Talking about the challenges facing companies in the region, Thixton added: “Our latest 'Business Trends' report showed a slight tailing off in business confidence, but this is to be expected as pent-up demand reduces and the focus turns to long term, sustainable growth.

“The stability of Europe continues to be a big market influencer and the economic impact of the Scottish referendum along with the general election next year, will undoubtedly cause some uncertainty for businesses. It will also be interesting to see what happens when interest rates begin to rise again.”