Burness Paull on course for 15 per cent increase in turnover and profits

Burness Paull’s chairman said the firm is due to see turnover and profits rise by 15 per cent in the year to July 31 with all parts of the business performing well.

The firm saw turnover increase by 20 per cent annually to £46.3 million in the year to July 2014, during which time profits soared by 25 per cent to £20.7m, up from £16.5m.

Although the growth rate is more modest this year, chairman Philip Rodney (pictured) said:“In this environment 15 per cent is something that we are very satisfied with, we don’t see it as growth slipping back.”

He added that the firm benefited from a number of synergies enabled by the merger of Burness and the Aberdeen-based Paull & Williamson from which it was created.

Mr Rodney also said that despite a downturn in the oil and gas industry in the Aberdeen area caused by a fall in the price of crude oil, activity levels were still high.

He added that the firm expects the industry to come out of the slump stronger than when it entered it.

Mr Rodney added: “We anticipate once the market has found a level that there will be quite a lot of private equity activity.”

He said Burness Paull had seen a lot of activity in the Central Belt where the reduction in the oil price may have helped the economy through lower fuel costs.

The firm has advised on a number of deals in the Central Belt over the past few months, including a £4.5m management buy-in at CB Technologies funded by Maven Capital as well as a £4m investment by Epidarex Capital in Edinburgh Molecular Imaging, a spin-out of Edinburgh University.

The chairman also said the firm had a strong pipeline of deals and its outlook for the financial year ahead was good and noted that Burness Paull was recently named as one of the country’s “fastest growing and most dynamic companies” in the London Stock Exchange’s list of “Organisations that Inspire Britain”

Mr Rodney said the firm has also worked successfully with firms in London in joint business pitches.