Changing client demand has seen a strong performance across our business
Being bold
We’ve seen exceptional performance, with client demand for services right across our multidisciplinary portfolio driving up group gross revenue - which includes our Middle East firm - by 12%, to £5,002m, year-on-year. This followed on from 2% growth in FY21 (which ended in June 2021), when a strong second half performance saw the firm begin to recover from the worst effects of the pandemic. This performance reinforced that our bold stance was not only the right thing to do for our people but also for the resilience of our business, and has allowed us to consolidate our core capabilities in FY22 while also focussing on newer and developing areas where our clients are demanding we provide support such as Net Zero and next generation cloud services.
Our revenues
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markets
and resources
health industries
manufacturing
and services
Media and
Telecommunications
Total group profit for the financial year was up 31% to £1,535m, with UK distributable partner profits averaging £920,000 per partner.
Demand for business transformation - front and back office, technology and people led transformation - continued to grow during the second half of FY21 and into FY22. This includes clients looking to current and emerging cloud technologies, a shift in workforce strategy and transformation, as well as Execution Managed Services, where we support our clients in the delivery and running of large and complex business processes and programmes. All of this has contributed to our overall Consulting revenues increasing 33%.
Audit achieved 6% revenue growth, as did our Deals line of service. Deals growth benefited from strong transactions market activity, and demand for our value creation services.
The sectors experiencing the strongest growth were Financial Services and Industrial Manufacturing & Services.
Our investment reserves have been further buoyed by the disposal of the UK operations of our global mobility services business, now known as Vialto Partners, as well as a strong FY22 trading performance. The UK firm received from its share of the proceeds from the global sale.
Our wider growth ambitions were also aided with the acquisition of supply chain consulting firm Olivehorse and technology provider Pollen8, and accelerated hiring of people and admission of partners in areas where we have and expect to see significant client demand.
How can we premiere our film at a non-traditional venue and create a replicated cinema experience within the Metaverse, in just two weeks? This was the urgent question asked of PwC Middle East by Dubai-based MContent, the world’s first tokenized Watch2Earn content eco-system that facilitates crowdfunding for film production and content creation around the world using cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Due to strong ties between the two firms, PwC UK’s Metaverse Technologies team, led by Jeremy Dalton, was brought on board to create a truly special experience.
They only had fourteen days to prepare for an event that would see 200 influential guests from across the media landscape celebrate MContent’s first step into the Metaverse. In addition, the team was not only creating a virtual reality (VR) experience, but also procuring, setting up and deploying 200 VR headsets from Ireland to a beach in Dubai.
In order to replicate a film festival, the team created a cinema-like experience that was accessed through a VR headset. In this ‘cineverse’, each guest had their own private seat where they were shown two 30-minute documentaries from the MContent Original library. Lining the walls of the virtual cinema were digital film posters promoting MContent's stable of titles, as well as future releases.
“Our vision of bringing the Cineverse to life in just two weeks was very ambitious. And, PwC was the only organisation that we could trust to deliver this in time without compromising on the technology and the quality. The event was a huge success as it gave a glimpse of what film and content distribution, including cinema, will look like in the near future. It showcased MContent as the web3 content company that is not only changing the way content is produced and consumed, and also engaged and entertained its investors, creators and clients in a fun and innovative way.”
CEO of MContent
Global network
In order to ensure that each of the 200 headsets could synchronously play the content, local area network infrastructure was brought over from the UK and set up on the beach. This enabled two-way communication with every headset, allowing us to monitor key information such as battery life and headset temperature. The UK team worked alongside 20 people from the Middle East firm’s emerging tech team to bring this project to life.
This was the first project of its kind for PwC, and the first phase in a wider piece of work to build a Metaverse environment for MContent. According to PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook 2022-2026, the total UK spend on VR content is set to expand from US$136mn in 2021 to US$487mn in 2026. In response to this demand, PwC UK is currently working on a number of new Metaverse opportunities in the UK and around the world.
Investing in the future
Our performance overall speaks to the strength of our brand, our client reach, and the quality of our people. This bold approach was informed by our strategy, which aims to strengthen our market position and longer-term resilience.
With our business performing well, it’s important that our people also share in the benefits of the firm’s growth. Accordingly, we’ve been able to fund the most significant increases to UK staff pay and bonuses in a decade. Salaries for many of our entry programmes also increased - for example, starting salaries in Audit rose by 10%.
Our investment activity - organic and inorganic - will accelerate this year and is of the highest priority as we look to develop further and grow capabilities and offerings that are critical to our clients success.
Global network
Globally, the PwC network employs nearly 328,000 people working in 152 countries advising and managing services for 191,000 private and public sector clients of all sizes and sectors. The past financial year - FY22 - saw an 11% increase in headcount, with the creation of 32,576 net new jobs. For the 12 months to 30 June 2022, PwC firms globally recorded gross revenues of US$50.3 billion. This is an increase of 13.4% in local currency and 11.4% in US dollars above FY21 revenues of US$45 billion.
Revenue growth was strong across the entire year, following the excellent performance seen in the last quarter of FY21 as the business impact of Covid began to diminish. The growth numbers for FY22 reflect this increase in activity as well as the impact of geopolitical conflicts, including the firm’s decision to cease operations in Russia and Belarus.
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In the Americas, growth improved steadily across each quarter.
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In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), following strong growth in the first three quarters, fourth quarter growth was somewhat lower. Revenues in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) grew by 10%. Russia, which is no longer part of the PwC network as of 4 July 2022, accounted for 22% of CEE revenues.
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Asia Pacific revenues were up 14%, with strong performances from South Korea, India, China and Australia.
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