Our Vision & Strategic Ambition

Key for any investment we make is the expectation that it can deliver profitable returns over a foreseeable timeframe to enhance the value of the Group.

All service lines should have or should be capable of (in a foreseeable time frame of three to five years) achieving a critical mass of revenue and thereby contributing an operating profit.

We believe that the objective for operating profit returns on revenue should be no less than 20% for cyclical businesses, and no less than 10% for non-cyclical businesses. All investment principles will be considered in the context of profits achievable over a five-year timeframe and the payback period on investment, noting that where we are investing to grow our fee-earning capacity this requires up-front investment in employee costs where full income productivity typically follows in future years This has the effect of reducing the operating margins we may report, depending on the scale and pace of that investment relative to pre-existing resources and productivity.

We aim to secure and retain knowledge-rich client-oriented colleagues and to identify and develop future leaders. To achieve that, we know that our Group must be an attractive place to work, which encourages and enables people to fulfil their potential.

Key elements required to achieve that include knowledge capture from individuals, diversity, training and professional development, the creation of an environment for ‘generation now’, flexible working, attractive incentivisation plans, visible career paths, defined succession planning, fostering a culture of teamwork and collaboration, cross-group events and empowerment and engagement.

We believe that it is vital to retain a core central resilience to support sustainability across the Group. For us, that means ensuring the following:

• Holding a sufficient level of cash or liquid assets via a central treasury function
• Owning our own assets
• Expanding high-margin revenue streams while accepting some cyclicality
• Augmenting those higher margin revenues with diversified but complementary service offerings
• Employing a flexible business model
• Retaining key management and continually attracting new talent
• Maintaining subsidiaries as legally distinct entities
• Cyber, legal and fiduciary compliance
• Insuring risks
• Maintaining quoted status and thereby the ability to issue shares and bonds