London WC1-based management consultancy Butler Cox Plc has felt the impact of the recession with pre-tax profits plummeting 43% to UKP760,425 on turnover up 14.5% to a little under UKP11m. In fact if the revenue contribution of newly-acquired Cranfield Information Technology Institute is stripped out then Butler Cox saw revenues grow by about 6%. Profits were dragged down by redundancy payments of UKP153,000 although nowadays such payments are scarcely exceptional items except in the rarefied atmosphere of accountancy. Failed negotiations to acquire an IT consultancy partnership in Germany lopped another UKP63,000 off profits and was charged as an exceptional item. Management consultancy revenues fell 12% to UKP4.5m over the year, but membership of the Butler Cox Foundation and of the Productivity Enhancement Programme both grew. Trading results at Cranfield are said to have shown an encouraging improvement since acquisition. Overseas revenues including revenues from subsidiaries in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and from agents elsewhere, grew 5% to UKP3.7m and constituted 34% of the company’s total revenues. Butler Cox has UKP2.3m cash in reserves and has noticed encouraging evidence in the current financial year that confidence is returning to the market.
