Ernst & Young Fiscal Year 2007 Global Revenues rise 15% to US$21.1 Billion

Integrated global model drives double digit growth

Ernst & Young recently announced that worldwide combined revenues increased to US$21.1 billion for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2007. This represents a year-on-year revenue increase of US$2.7 billion and a growth rate of 15% (11% in local currency terms).

Against the backdrop of the global announcement, Philip Hourquebie, Chief Executive Officer of Ernst & Young South Africa commented that revenue for the South African practice had increased by 24%, when compared with the previous period under review – a trend established over the last three years. “We have experienced tremendous growth across all our business sectors in the last three years. This has resulted in significant increases in our partner and staff complement. Our growth is largely due to an increase in new clients, as well as our existing clients requiring additional services. “

“Africa continues to provide significant growth opportunities, and when combined, Ernst & Young firms grew by approximately 32% across Africa. We anticipate the continuation of this trend over the next few years. We are seeing a number of clients expanding their footprint across Africa, and we are well-positioned to support their expansion. Ernst & Young operates throughout Africa leveraging our international networks, expertise and knowledge centres and we strongly believe that the firm must provide the same quality of service from New York to Nairobi.”

Picking up this theme from a global perspective, "Our strong performance over the last fiscal year reflects the success of our long-established strategy to develop a truly global approach to our business," said James S. Turley, Ernst & Young’s Chairman and CEO. "Several years ago, we committed ourselves to a structure for the global organisation which has brought together all of our 130,000 people, across 140 countries, through seven tightly integrated Area practices."

"Our global integration efforts recognise the profound changes occurring in the broader business environment, including rapid globalisation, and the rise of the emerging markets. In this context, we are better able to deliver against our clients’ ever-higher expectations of seamless, consistent, high-quality client service wherever they operate around the world," added Turley.

"Having already brought together groupings of country practices within our Area structure, we are better able to meet market demands more quickly and effectively, while respecting the legal and regulatory requirements in each country," commented Ernst & Young Global Chief Operating Officer, John Ferraro. "In addition, we can more easily invest across the globe in quality and services, and deploy people with the right skills to serve our clients."

The strength of the global platform has enabled double digit performance across each of Ernst & Young's global service lines of Assurance and Advisory Business Services (AABS), Tax, and Transaction Advisory Services (TAS), as well as each of the seven geographic Area practices.

TAS led the service line growth, achieving a 29% revenue increase, reflecting Ernst & Young's involvement in some of the largest deals over the period, including significant activity in the emerging markets, and the exceptional demand from Private Equity clients. Tax revenue improved by 18%, owing to strong demand for these services, particularly in the Far East and Americas. The continued steady demand for assurance and risk-based services, together with the growing call for business advisory services, enabled AABS revenue to grow by more than 16%.

In the seven Areas, US dollar growth has been as follows: 10% in the Americas; 22% in Northern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa; 16% in Central Europe; 17% in Continental Western Europe; 27% in the Far East; 16% in Oceania, and 21% in Japan. Notably, in places where strategic investments have been made - such as China, India and Russia - growth in excess of 30% has been achieved.

"The great strides we have made towards the global alignment of our business will be supplemented with further significant investment in markets of strategic importance in the years ahead. We believe this focus, combined with the diversity of our people, the power of our values-based culture and our unwavering commitment to quality, gives us real competitive advantage in the global marketplace," concluded Turley.