AAB, one of the UK’s leading independent firms of chartered accountants and business advisors, is celebrating its Edinburgh office hitting its £1.5 million revenue target in its first year.

Since opening the Edinburgh office located at 1 Lochrin Square in Fountainbridge, staff numbers have grown rapidly and currently stand at 30, with plans to recruit an additional 70 staff within the next three years to support its growth.

All seven of AAB’s business units are now represented at its Edinburgh office, allowing the firm to offer its full range of audit, business advisory, tax, corporate finance, payroll & employment taxes, consulting and wealth management services from the capital’s office.

The move to Edinburgh was pivotal for AAB in delivering the group’s growth strategy target of doubling revenues to £40 million by 2022.

Douglas Martin, Head of Growth Strategy at AAB said: “We took the decision to enter the Edinburgh market to allow us to continue to strengthen relationships in the central belt and one year in, we are already seeing fantastic results. Meeting our first-year revenue target is a great achievement and with a number of recent significant client wins we are well on our way to delivering our year two revenue target of £3 million.

AAB celebrated the firm’s first year in Edinburgh on Thursday, 13^th June at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa with an evening of canapés and drinks for over 150 clients and contacts.

 

Photo: Graeme Allan, AAB Group’s Managing Partner, welcomes guests to the Edinburgh office’s first anniversary celebration

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading independent firms of chartered accountants and business advisors, has announced that revenue from its Houston-based clients accounted for 15 percent of its total revenue of £23.8 million ($31 million) for the year to 31 March 2019.

The firm’s specialist teams provide global tax and technology support to a number of Houston-based clients, including the use of AAB’s innovative and self-designed global tax tracking dashboards. These systems pull personnel and project data from a client’s system, automating the flow of information for tax compliance in around 100 countries at any given time. AAB’s unique systems enable clients to save time, streamline their compliance processes, save money and ultimately manage their global tax risks.

The firm also provides a range of core services covering audit, accounting, tax and corporate finance, to its diverse client base in Houston which spans US listed companies through to owner-managed businesses across various sectors including oil and gas, renewables, retail, financial services and technology.

AAB’s revenue from Houston has grown significantly in the last three years due to major client wins, but the firm’s links with Houston go back 20 years; building relationships with clients and affiliates and attending OTC annually. Currently, over 100 of the firm’s staff work on international projects and this is set to increase as a result of continued investment in and commitment to international growth. The firm’s current pipeline of new opportunities for Houston-based clients is forecast to take its Houston-based income to around 20 percent of revenues by 2022.

Neil Dinnes, International Liaison Partner at AAB, explained, “Our firm’s international presence has grown significantly over the last few years and we now support companies of all sizes with their operations in over 125 different countries. Developing our services and expertise to meet clients’ evolving needs has always been a priority for us. As a firm, we take great pride in supporting our clients with their growth aspirations and, for many of them, Houston continues to be a key area for growth. The importance of Houston and the wider US region to our clients is one of the reasons we continue to invest in developing strong relationships with our international affiliates in the area, which goes hand-in-hand with attending events such as OTC every year. The importance of the strength of professional connections in Houston cannot be understated, for example, because of our collaborative approach we were recently able to identify the opportunity of a seven-figure US tax saving for one of our clients.”

Steven Fraser, Global Mobility Partner at AAB, added, “A key benefit of our ties with Houston, as the Energy Capital of the World, is making strong connections with Houston-based companies who are investing in the North East of Scotland. Aberdeen continues to be an important market for US companies to expand into and also acts as a springboard into other markets beyond the UK. As a result, our firm’s own investment into Houston is directly contributing to the continued success of companies operating in the North East of Scotland, which is something we are immensely proud of. It is great to see successful opportunities on both sides of the pond.

Houston will continue to play a critical role in achieving our ambitious growth target of achieving £40 million ($52 million) turnover by 2022.”

Pictured: Left to right: Heading up AAB’s international team are Neil Dinnes, Graeme Allan and Steven Fraser

The firm has announced three internal promotions to Director.

Lynn Wilson specialises in tax advice and support to companies and their entrepreneurial owners, with a particular focus on structuring investments, company reorganisations, employee equity incentivisation and planning for an exit. She helps clients navigate the complex tax rules and assists them in meeting their current and longer term objectives, while keeping tax liabilities to a minimum along the way.

In addition to being a Director in the firm’s new Business Advisory Division, Stuart Petrie leads the firm’s experienced Tax Investigation team supporting clients in often complex tax investigations and disclosures both in the UK and abroad.

Jill Walker leads the firm’s Private Client team advising unincorporated businesses on all types of transactions together with managing their annual tax compliance requirements. Jill also specialises in advice to non-resident individuals and helps them manage their exposure to UK taxes together with considering the impact on overseas tax liabilities.

Graeme Allan, Managing Partner at AAB commented “all of these promotions are richly deserved as not only do each of them have significant experience and expertise in specialist areas of tax, but they continue to bring new ideas and strategic initiatives to the business. This approach is so crucial for our firm as we continue to grow in a changing market place here in the UK as well as globally, and adapt to the needs of our business, as well as our clients.

Our ambitions will only be achievable with a strong and diverse team with a leadership who can continue to anticipate and react to challenges, whilst also creating and responding to new opportunities. I am confident that Lynn, Stuart and Jill will succeed in this aspect of their new roles, and strengthen our ability to deliver only the very best of client service.”

Two of Aberdeen’s largest professional services firms have become the first sponsors to back the city’s new multi-million-pound entertainment arena.

AAB and Aberdein Considine have been announced as the first hospitality partners of The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA).

The businesses – which together employ more than 700 people – will both take over corporate hospitality facilities following the arena’s much-anticipated launch this summer.

TECA will provide a new world-class facility for Scotland beside Aberdeen International Airport.

The 16,000 capacity main arena will host conferences, exhibitions and music concerts, and is expected to attract major artists and events to the city. The facility will also boast three multi-use halls and four flexible conference suites.

Aberdein Considine – which is now one of Scotland’s largest legal firms with 450 Partners and staff across 19 offices – will use a hospitality box in the arena to entertain its local, national and international clients.

Jacqueline Law, Managing Partner of Aberdein Considine, said: “There is a great buzz about the new arena and we are delighted to be among the first to commit to a hospitality package to support its launch,” she said.

“This world-class venue will attract major artists and new events to the north-east to ensure the area competes on a global scale. As a local business, we want to back that.

“We will be a proud partner and look forward to entertaining our clients at the venue from the summer onwards.”

AAB, which employs around 280 staff, provides accountancy and business advisory services to individuals and businesses ranging from start-ups to global corporations.

It supports clients across nearly every major country in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia and will also take over a hospitality box at TECA for corporate entertainment.

AAB’s Managing Partner Graeme Allan said: “As a business with an international outlook, it’s fantastic to have such an incredible facility on our doorstep to entertain our valued clients and guests.

“It is an exciting time for our city with so many major infrastructure improvements in the works and the launch of TECA will be a much welcomed addition to these enhancements across our community.

“We are delighted to be able to play even a small part in supporting this development and are excited that we will be involved from the moment TECA opens its doors.”

Thalia Lyness, of TECA, added: “We’re delighted to welcome two of Aberdeen’s largest professional services companies as our first suite holders. By investing in TECA, AAB and Aberdein Considine have the opportunity to entertain clients from across the world in a way never before available in the city.”

TECA is expected to contribute an additional 4.5 million visitors, £113million of visitor spend and £63million net Gross Value Added to the Scottish economy.

It will also result in the creation of 352 full-time-equivalent permanent positions by year 10 of operations.

Pictured: AAB Managing Partner Graeme Allan (left) and Aberdein Considine Partner Ritchie Whyte at TECA.

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading independent firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors, has rounded off a successful year of dealmaking in 2018 by being named as the top dealmakers in Scotland for a 14th consecutive year. The firm, which has completed over 250 deals in the last five years alone, has been recognised by the Scottish Business Insider as the accountants having completed the most deals in Scotland each year from 2005 – 2018.

The Scottish Business Insider’s review of the Scottish deals market recognised that AAB completed 42 transactions in 2018, more than double any other accountancy firm during the same period. Key transactions in which AAB were involved in 2018 included the disposal of flange integrity and maintenance business Equalizer International to the US trade acquirer Actuant, the disposal of London based fastener supplier Precision Technology Supplies to Trifast plc, the raising of significant growth capital investment in Aberdeen-based drone inspection and technology company Air Control Entech and acting for the safety training business Survivex in their acquisition by the Blue Water backed 3T Energy Group.

Douglas Martin, Head of Corporate Finance, said “2018 was a busy year for us and the continued increase in our activity is not only recognition to our dynamic team but also the great support we receive from our clients and contacts across Scotland and further afield.

2018 was a milestone year for us in terms of establishing a presence in the Central Belt deals market and we are delighted with the significant foothold we have already established by the team led by Lyn Calder. At the same time we have invested heavily in building our equity fund-raising team led by Brian McMurray and we are delighted with the quality of opportunities we are now seeing in this space to support early stage and high-growth SME’s looking to raise growth finance.

We have had a great start to 2019 and expect to close 15 deals during the first quarter across a range of sectors including oil & gas, food & drink, technology, construction and support services. This is an exciting time for us and we look forward to another very busy year of deal activity.”

Photo: Douglas Martin, Head of Corporate Finance at AAB

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors, has announced key appointments in the firm’s Virtual Finance Function (VFF) team.

AAB’s VFF service is bespoke so clients can tailor the service to their exact requirements and vary this where circumstances change. For some businesses a fully operational finance function may be the solution or for others the requirement is processing and management accounts. By having a service completely tailored to their current needs, businesses can complement internal resources with the AAB VFF team which allows for a clear focus on achieving strategic objectives based on a full view and analysis of accurate and up to date financial information.

Lauren McIlroy joined the firm as a Senior Manager to lead this service, bringing extensive knowledge and experience across various accounting platforms, processes, procedures and legislation having worked both in practice and in a number of industry roles. She can support clients in all aspects of their day to day finance function plus wider business advisory needs.

In addition to Lauren’s appointment, AAB have announced the return of Robbie Gordon as Partner. Robbie spent 18 years at AAB before taking up a role in industry in 2011. He has re-joined in a strategic role to aiding the VFF team’s ability to focus on driving forward the operational aspects of delivering the service.

Robbie commented “VFF uses a cloud based platform with the latest accounting software which allows us to deliver cost effective solutions irrespective of where our clients are located.

Our clients tell us that the combination of core compliance and real-time strategic insight of their key performance indicators is invaluable. Also they say that having the service delivered by a dedicated and experienced trusted advisor has provided them with new insight into their businesses and that our people really do work in partnership with theirs to become part of their extended team. Traditionally this type of offering would have been utilised by owner managed businesses however we are seeing an increasing number of private equity businesses, Fintech companies and E&P businesses looking for support.

Lauren is an excellent addition to AAB and has extensive experience in this field which makes her well placed to lead the team. I myself am delighted to be back at the firm and look forward to continuing to work with Lauren and the rest of the VFF team to deliver the very best service to our clients across the UK and indeed globally.”

 

AAB, one of the UK’s leading firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors, has now this year been a Best Company for twelve consecutive years, and has also secured a place on The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For List for four consecutive years. AAB placed at number 37 on the Top 100 list, making 2019 the firm’s third year in the top 40 Best Companies To Work For. These achievements are a result of AAB employee’s responses to questions within the Best Companies engagement survey, which examines the ins-and-outs of company life and reveals how employees really perceive their work environment.

AAB had an incredible response rate to the survey, which could be a reflection of the numerous ways in which the firm engages with its employees, as well as the exciting growth and development the firm has experienced over the last twelve months. The firm’s dedicated ‘Social Club’ organise a variety of different fun and social events for staff to get involved with, including some new events for 2018 such as rounders, pumpkin carving and ‘The Hungry Games’. The Hungry Games took place over the summer months where AAB teamed up and competed against some of their neighbours at their Aberdeen HQ in Prime four Business Park through games such as basketball, welling ‘wanging’, a quiz and a hotdog eating competition. The firm’s charity, the Anderson Anderson & Brown Charitable Initiative (AABi) hit a huge milestone during 2018 when it reached an incredible total of £100,000 of grant funding donated to 57 charities in addition to donating over 3,300 volunteer hours. The firm also experienced a significant amount of growth during 2018 with their ‘official’ arrival in Edinburgh and the move to a new office in Lochrin Square, their London presence continuing to strengthen as well as growth across some key sectors including food and drink, rural and E&P to name a few. AAB is an incredibly ambitious firm and this growth presents a significant volume of opportunities for the AAB team through working with new clients resulting in new and varied projects as well as the opportunity to work in other places across the globe. Internally, AAB has introduced a ‘Firm of the Future’ project aimed at delivering continuous improvement across the firm so that they are well placed to embrace the challenges and opportunities associated with an ever-changing marketplace, and indeed a changing profession. In addition to all of the above AAB continues to invest heavily in the training and development of its people, and 2018 saw their highest intake of trainees to date with 40 people joining their various different programmes.

Graeme Allan, Managing Partner at AAB said “We are absolutely delighted to be recognised as a top company to work for once again. The award status is great for the firm, but ultimately, knowing our employees feel driven, stimulated and empowered to get the best out of themselves is the real achievement.

Karen Stewart, Chief Human Resources Officer at AAB added “This is a fantastic achievement for AAB, and we only have our amazing employees to thank for it. Ensuring that we have the best people working in our team across all levels and areas, and that they are happy within in their role is key in ensuring the continued prosperity of our firm in the future.”

The firm has announced the promotion of Gill Pryde to Senior Partner to support their continued growth and development. In addition AAB has also appointed Derek Mitchell, James Pirrie and Neil Dinnes to their Partner in Charge (PiC) Group which leads the firm’s operational management and strategic direction.

As Senior Partner, Gill, who has been with the firm for 23 years and a Partner for 20 years, will play a key role in supporting AAB’s Managing Partner Graeme Allan across their offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London. As well as this, Gill will continue to drive the delivery of “Awesome Service” across an ever increasing client base.

As Heads of their respective departments, Derek (Business Advisory Services), James (Audit) and Neil (Corporate & International Tax) bring an extensive range of expertise to AAB’s PiC group. This, combined with their breadth of skills and industry knowledge will add an additional dimension to the operational and strategic management of the firm as it continues to work towards some very ambitious growth plans in a changing marketplace. These include doubling revenue to £40million by 2022, creating 100 new jobs in their recently opened Edinburgh Office as well as continuing to expand into the London and wider international markets in which the firm already work with clients.

Graeme Allan commented “The last 12 months at AAB have been exceptionally busy and seen a lot of change and, coupled with this, our profession is also facing substantial changes as a whole. Whilst this presents a number of challenges it also provides significant opportunities and being able to anticipate, manage and lead the response to these opportunities and embrace the changes requires a strong and diverse leadership team.

Gill has an incredible passion for awesome client service and this, combined with the substantial success she has delivered for AAB, has culminated in this richly deserved promotion to Senior Partner. Likewise, Derek, Jim and Neil have developed deep specialisms themselves and across their teams which make each of them superb fit for their new, critical roles for the firm.

I am confident that all of these appointments will not only provide the support required for the next stage of our firm’s development but will also continue to positively impact our clients. Like us, many of them are currently facing fundamental changes, across the UK and globally, and by having a strong leadership team, supported by a wider team of incredibly talented individuals, we will be best placed to be able to help clients solve their most complex challenges and deliver the services and support across the 90 countries we currently work with clients in.”

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading independent firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers, is delighted to announce the successful completion of 51 transactions during 2018, covering a range of sectors including Oil & Gas, technology, food & drink, construction and support services. 2018 is the 5th consecutive year in which AAB have completed 50 or more deals with the total 2018 deal value for AAB transactions being >£350m.

Some of AAB’s key M&A highlights in 2018 included the sale of flange integrity and maintenance business Equalizer International to Actuant, the disposal of safety training business Survivex to 3T Energy Group backed by BlueWater Energy, the sale of London based stainless steel fastener business Precision Technology Supplies to FTSE 100 listed Trifast plc and the merger of aquaculture services company Johnson Marine with the Norwegian based GripShip to form the enlarged AquaShip.

AAB has significantly increased its focus on deal activity in the Central Belt following its launch in Edinburgh last year and a number of key appointments made throughout 2018. Most recently, Chris Thompson has joined the growing Central Belt deals team, led by Partner Lyn Calder. Chris has a wealth of experience within the corporate finance arena and joins AAB as a senior manager from PWC.

In addition AAB has committed significant investment in the last year developing its equity funding proposition for SME’s, led by Brian McMurray. This is now gaining significant traction, with deals completed including the recently announced growth capital investment in Aberdeen-based drone inspection and technology company Air Control Entech, with several others to be announced in early 2019.

Douglas Martin, Head of Corporate Finance at AAB, said, “This is an exciting time for us as we look to build our presence across Scotland and we are delighted to have completed 50+ deals for the 5th consecutive year. This achievement is made possible by the team’s ability to adapt to the changing market dynamics and desire to be proactive in our approach to initiate and deliver transactions both across Scotland and further afield.

Looking ahead to 2019, Martin commented, “The deals market across Scotland in general is positive and it was very welcome to see increased activity in the Oil & Gas sector throughout 2018, with a number of high profile transactions in the upstream exploration & production (E&P) space as well as a strong uptake in Oil & Gas services deals in the final quarter of 2018. We fully expect that this trend will continue throughout 2019.

In addition, the growth achieved by the team in the Central Belt is highly encouraging as we continue to expand in this market with a focus on deal initiation activity. We are delighted with the quality of team we have assembled in a short space of time and it is great to have Chris join us to further bolster our growth plans in the Central Belt. With a team of 20 dedicated advisors across the UK, we look forward to another busy year with a very strong pipeline of deals going into 2019.”

Pictured (left to right): Brian McMurray, Douglas Martin, Lyn Calder & Chis Thompson

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors, is pleased to announce the appointment of Duncan Raggett as Restructuring Manager in their growing Restructuring & Recovery division.

Duncan, who specialises in corporate recovery, has a wealth of experience in the restructuring, recovery and insolvency arena having spent over 15 years managing a varied portfolio of both corporate and personal cases, most recently as Business Restructuring Manager at BDO. Duncan has a Masters degree in English from The University of St Andrews and is both JIEB and CPI qualified.

Duncan will be based in the firm’s Edinburgh Office to support the increase in client demand for the team’s services in the Central Belt. His appointment follows a period of significant growth for the team which has expanded following several new recruits, including that of Nicola Rollings in early 2018. Currently the AAB Restructuring & Recovery team is six strong with over 40 ongoing projects throughout Scotland.

Neil Dempsey commented “Duncan is an excellent addition to our expanding team and we are delighted to have him on board. We are continuing to grow our presence in the Scottish restructuring market and Duncan’s appointment will enhance that growth even further as we look to become to go-to firm for restructuring services in both the Central Belt and North East of Scotland.”