MHA half year revenues up 32 per cent

MHA, which has Lancashire offices in Preston and Lancaster, has reported significant growth as it releases a half year financial update for the first time.

Revenues reported for the six months ended 30 September 2024 were £99m, an increase of 32 per cent on H1 last year from £75m with nearly all of MHA’s offices experiencing significant double-digit growth in first half of the year. 

Overall revenue has doubled in the last four years from £90m in 2020.

As with most professional services firms MHA has historically received a higher proportion of its fees in H2 suggesting that for the full financial year 2025 revenues will exceed £200m.

There was growth across all of MHA’s service lines with Audit & Assurance, and Tax being the most significant. The firm’s top six sectors all expanded with growth led by Financial Services, Consumer Products, Technology, and Automotive & Transport.

Headcount and expansion

With the addition of two new Irish offices in July headcount is now 1916 people across 23 offices with 147 partners. This latest merger caps a busy 12 months for MHA, having opened offices in late 2023 in Scotland and Wales for the first time, as well as the merger with MHA Moore & Smalley. 

Since 1 April the firm has welcomed 416 new starters and announced 270 promotions across the country. MHA is the UK and Ireland member of Baker Tilly International.

On 1 July MHA announced a merger with Roberts Nathan to form a new firm which is going to market as Baker Tilly in the Republic of Ireland and will create 100 new jobs over the next two years to bolster the 70 existing staff and partners.  

The new roles will range from graduates to experienced professionals in Dublin and Cork, spanning audit and assurance, advisory, and tax services.

In September the firm announced that it had welcomed a record 214 new trainees this year with 186 new starters joining the firm earlier that month.

This figure represents an almost doubling of last year’s intake of 130 reflecting the ambitious growth journey MHA is already on and the firm’s future expectations. The firm anticipates this number will grow again significantly in 2025.

MHA have already had over 10,000 applications since September for the Autumn 2025 start date.

The new starters have training contracts at 23 MHA offices across the UK and Ireland including the new offices in Aberdeen, Cork, Dublin and Edinburgh. The new trainees are a mix of apprentices and graduates and will work across MHA’s service lines: Audit & Assurance, Tax and Advisory.

Rakesh Shaunak, group chairman and managing partner, said: “MHA has had a strong first six months of the financial year with growth coming both organically, as well as via our successful merger in Ireland.

"We will continue to move with purpose, pace and an ambitious growth mindset. We look confidently ahead to anticipated double digit organic growth for the full financial year 2025 and beyond.”