Country’s biggest architect now employs close to 2,000 people
The country’s biggest architect saw turnover break the £400m barrier for the first time last year and staff numbers edge up to the 2,000 mark.
Latest accounts filed by Foster & Partners at Companies House show that income was up 29% to £422m with staff numbers up 11% to 1,900.
The firm, whose UK schemes include the Ellison Institute of Technology’s research and development facility at Oxford to be built by Laing O’Rourke and a masterplan job as part of the redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium, said pre-tax profit doubled to £2.3m in the year to April.
Fosters’ earnings before amortisation, depreciation and a partnership payment of almost £20m to its 100-plus partners was £44m – down from £55m last time.
The £19.8m partnership payment is shared between all partners and is in addition to an annual bonus, the firm said.
The architect’s biggest business is the Middle East where it posted an income of £177m, up by half on last time and around 42% of its entire group workload. Income from its UK business stayed flat at £38m.
Fosters, whose largest shareholder is the Canadian private equity firm Hennick & Company which over the summer bought a stake in Gardiner & Theobald, said it would pay a £24m dividend, up from £14.6m last time.
The accounts also reveal it spent £900,000 on restructuring costs.
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