Foster + Partners Sees £400 Million Turnover

17/12/24

The country's biggest architect saw turnover break the £400 million 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 per cent to £422 million with staff numbers up 11 per cent 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 £2.3 million in the year to April.

Fosters has drawn up plans for the Ellison Institute of Technology's new multidisciplinary research and development facility at Oxford

Fosters' earnings before amortisation, depreciation and a partnership payment of almost £20 million to its 200-plus partners was £44 million – down from £55 million last time.

The £19.8 million partnership payment is shared between all 220 senior partners and 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 £177 million, up by half on last time and around 42 per cent of its entire group workload. Income from its UK business stayed flat at £38 million.

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 £24 million dividend, up from £14.6 million last time.

The accounts also reveal it spent £900,000 on restructuring costs.