Grant Thornton dominates post-merger boardroom

Grant Thornton has taken the lion’s share of places on a new management board after its high profile merger with RSM Robson Rhodes.

The firms teamed up in July 2007, and Grant Thornton UK has carved out a new board structure to reflect the major change that has taken place.

Michael Cleary heads up the board as chief executive, but, of the former Robson Rhodes partners, only David Maxwell has a berth on the panel, which has seven members in total.

The high-profile merger was signed off last July and the two firms are still in the midst of efforts to fully integrate the two camps.

GT UK said that the firm has just recorded 14% turnover growth for the year ending 30 June 2007, with a 16% increase in profit to £76m.

This relates to an increase on Grant Thornton’s 2006 revenues of £275m to £314m, while it was still separate from RSM Robson Rhodes. Robson Rhodes figures were not included because its reporting dates were different, a GT UK spokesperson said.

Despite posting revenues of £314m, the firm said it was now a ‘£389m firm’. The figure relates to the revenues it expects to generate with Robson Rhodes’ contribution in the year ending 30 June 2008.

Differences aside, the figures represent the 10th consecutive year of annual income growth and were achieved on strong performances across a number of service streams.

Grant Thornton’s corporate finance business benefited from an upturn in merger and acquisition activity that helped deliver growth of 28%, while its tax services rose by 17%.

Its audit and assurance practice recorded a 12% increase in fee income.

Michael Cleary, Grant Thornton chief executive officer, said the merger with RSM Robson Rhodes had propelled the firm into a ‘different league’, making it ‘a leading player in the mid-market and the provider of non-audit services to one in four of the FTSE 100’.