Performance this year was mixed as we faced a challenging economic and geopolitical landscape. This contributed to a slow-down in activity as clients were more cautious.  However, the breadth of our expertise and range of services enabled us to maintain steady growth and respond to a wide range of client needs.

In response to this market, we had to take the difficult decision of making a number of targeted redundancies earlier in the year to reflect changes in demand and the associated shape of our business. But - importantly - we maintained investments, including in our people and we continued to hire in growth areas.

As the year progressed, we remained cautiously optimistic, and FY24 drew to a close with falling inflation and an improvement in business confidence and sentiment.

To recognise the hard work and commitment of our people and partners, we continued to invest in reward, new benefits, learning (including Deloitte University EMEA) - consistent with providing our people with market-leading opportunities for personal progression and making Deloitte a great place to work. This included opening new offices in Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol.

We have continued our targeted programme of investment across the business to improve client service and ways of working, including our ongoing transformation programme and development of AI-enabled tools and services. And finally, we have increased our investment in communities across the UK to £10.7m, working with over 80 society partners through volunteering, fundraising, charitable donations and pro-bono projects.

The markets are looking more positive for our Businesses. In our firm, one of the more significant changes in the coming months is the launch of our new global storefront. This will simplify how we go to market and help us to scale our market offerings, increase collaboration and enhance both quality and value for clients.

Following mixed performance across our Businesses due to more challenging market conditions, revenue for the year ended 31 May 2024 increased by 2% to £5.7bn in contrast to double digit growth last year.

In Switzerland we had modest revenue growth of 7% (in GBP terms), with all Swiss businesses other than Financial Advisory and Risk Advisory delivering growth compared to last year and a headline performance in Audit & Assurance.

In the UK, Audit & Assurance saw an 8% growth in revenue with a continued focus on quality. With a financially resilient business and culture of acting in the public interest we are well placed to serve the audit and assurance market.

Clients were more cautious in light of the difficult economic conditions, as a result Consulting saw revenues contract 1%. However, there was strong demand in transformation programmes, cloud migration, tech modernisation, data & integration, as well as GenAI review projects.

Our Financial Advisory business faced a challenging market, particularly in Forensic and M&A advisory, with revenues contracting by 2% from £669m in FY23 to £653m in FY24. Despite a slower M&A market, our Transaction Services team grew on prior year and non-transaction-based Advisory offerings also saw strong demand.

Risk Advisory saw revenues of £495m – in line with the previous year (£493m) - as it continued to work with clients on cyber services, and helping them prepare for upcoming internet and sustainability regulations. Significant areas of growth were supply chain resilience, controls, and data analytics related offerings. Areas of investment continued to be supporting our clients on climate and sustainability, alongside CFO advisory services.

Our Tax & Legal business recorded 3% growth. This was a result of working with clients on their transition to technology-based solutions, implementing new tax and legal regulations, as well as the management of increasingly complex mobile workforces.

In support of our people, we invested over £263m in salary increases and bonus payments, as well as nearly £63m in learning and development. And we continued our investment in technology, with £135m invested in FY24 – benefiting both our people and our clients.

Revenue growth across the firm was lower than we had originally anticipated. And although there are signs the economy is improving, we expect markets to remain unsettled and will remain prudent in how we manage our costs and investment decisions in the year ahead.