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The progress we have made over the past year is remarkable and deserving of recognition. We have continued our work in building a clear industry focus across Financial Advisory. This has given us the opportunity to win mandates and perform even in times of market volatility. And the backbone of all this remains the tight-knit team we have built.
In a context of economic uncertainty, which disrupted both the work of our clients and the markets we operate in, we continued to deliver. Our industry focus is our differentiating factor – setting us apart from the crowd and giving us the credibility and the competencies, we need to provide for our clients. In certain sectors we can see the impact this has had loud and clear: Energy & Renewables, Technology & Software, and the Financial Services industry have all been lodestars over the past year.
Tight-knit teams delivering stellar competence – and building the next chapter
We pride ourselves on the loyal team spirit we have worked hard to build within Financial Advisory. No leader manages more than six to eight talents – allowing them to develop close relationships with talents, ensuring they thrive and develop. Regular one-to-ones, check-ins, and continual professional and personal development are the name of the game.
And this approach has allowed us to build something special. Talents are valued. There is a sense of belonging. The way we treat our talents is a point of pride for us, and something we want to make even better – it truly matters, and we want to be at the forefront here. We have a relatively low employee turnover – just over 10 per cent in FY23 – showing our ability not just to attract but also to retain talent. And this is reflected in the feedback we receive from our talents– our engagement score remains at a very high level.
Alongside our distinct industry focus, we will continue to push ahead in building businesses around Value Creation Services. The winning formula for the coming years is further Nordic integration – particularly when it comes to scaling Corporate Finance and integrating our Transaction Services and Forensic work in the Nordics. This will give us the scale and the licence to play, serving international clients across our region, and taking our work to the next level.
Strategic decisions paying off
FY23 was challenged by economic turbulence, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years. Increased interest rates and, unseen in recent decades, high inflation and volatile stock markets had a noticeable impact on the M&A market. Deals became harder to execute – but even against this challenging and complicated backdrop, our talented team continued to deliver.
It is the prudent strategic decisions taken in years gone by which have given us the stable foundations upon which we are building today. Our aim and intention is to be at the forefront of the market – it is this which led us into our distinct industry focus, and this is a strategy which is decidedly paying off. As the market has found itself hit by volatility, we have become even clearer in our industry focus.
We continue to remain strong in Forensic, particularly when it comes to financial crime advisory. Building out the breadth of services we render has continued over FY23 – within M&A, stability has been secured in part through our investments, such as in M&A ESG and Debt Capital offerings, and we retain a distinct focus on Valuation and Modelling, as well as Transaction Modelling.