Survey finds fall in profits

A design industry analyst has declared herself baffled by a fall in profits afflicting the top 20 UK design consultancies.

Improved margins anticipated in the design industry have not been realised despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, according to the latest survey from accountant Willott Kingston Smith.

While overall gross income is up by nearly 9 per cent among the top 20 companies surveyed, “increased staff numbers and non-staff operating costs caused a fall in operating profit per head”, states the report.

WKS partner Amanda Merron is mystified and disappointed by the figures, and suggests they might be a glitch. “Either there are non-staff costs like masses of freelances, or [consultancies are] doing more marketing, or they are not doing enough work.”

Merron expects the next set of results to show operating profits going up.