South: KPMG celebrates growth in the region

KPMG’s southern region grew by 9%, for the financial year ending September 2015.

Karen Witton, south regional chairman at KPMG, said: “We built on last year’s success, adding a further 9% growth in our marketplace this year. This success is thanks to the hard work and expertise of our staff in the region.

“We have made significant efforts to expand our advisory offerings, including supporting businesses to protect themselves from cyber attacks, to make the most out of their workforce, and transform internal processes.

“We are committed to investing in and supporting existing and future talent. We made more than 100 promotions among existing staff, and took on 231 graduates and school leavers in our south offices.

“We celebrated the opening our new South Coast office in the summer. Not only are staff thrilled with the new location and design inspired by Southampton’s landscape, but local small businesses are able to enjoy the free use of meeting rooms and work space. Work to refit a building in Bristol city centre is starting in the New Year, with Bristol staff moving from their current office space in the summer.

“Local communities and charities benefited from significant investment. We are particularly proud of the success of our relationship with the Entrepreneurial Spark ‘hatchery’ in Bristol, where we have provided pro-bono support to support local new businesses grow in their early stages.”

It has been a busy year of deal completions for KPMG’s transactions team in the south, which advised on more than 50 deals in the region, including:

• Providing financial advice to Vertu Motors plc on the £14.3 million acquisition of SHG Holdings
• Providing due diligence to Synova Capital LLP on its £9m acquisition of Vistair Systems
• Providing vendor due diligence on the sale of Las Iguanas to Casual Dining Group.

Nationally, KPMG UK announced an increase in revenues from £1,909m to £1,958m (2.6%) for the financial year ended September 30, 2015.