Dear all,
The year ending on 30 June 2024, has been a very successful year for our Firm.
Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment due to a further year of restrictive monetary policy, we were able to grow our business overall by 11.4% to reach a total turnover of slightly more than €700m. We note however that, contrary to past years, the growth has not been homogeneous across all our service lines: while Assurance clearly had an exceptional year and Tax, including Managed Services, grew solidly, Advisory had a more challenging year, reflective of a market environment characterised by volatility and uncertainty.
We see this very solid performance as an outcome of our efforts and achievements especially in the following critical success areas:
- The multi-line of services strategy and diversification in terms of client industries and sub-industries we are working on. The increased mix between our recurring services, such as assurance, tax compliance and managed services, is rendering our business robust and protecting against some of the short-term macroeconomic impacts.
- The satisfaction level of our clients is very high, with a significant further increase in our Net Promoter Score as well as having many positive comments coming out of our extensive client satisfaction programmes. Clearly, this does not mean that we will rest on our laurels (on the contrary!), but it demonstrates that our resolutely “Client 1st” perspective is noticed and valued.
- Similarly, overall, our Global People Survey showed a high level of engagement and trust of our People, who highlighted our focus on quality and our values, as well as our initiatives around flexibility, health, wellbeing and diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have been able to onboard more than 400 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) net over the past year, another strong sign of the attractiveness of our Firm and brand.
We also launched some very important initiatives:
- Our GenAI Business Center and GenAI enhanced services,
- Our PwC Luxembourg Foundation and, last but by no means least,
- PwC Services Portugal, our new office located in Porto (Matosinhos), which is a partnership between PwC Luxembourg and PwC Portugal. It is a very strategic and large project mainly aimed at developing, to the benefit of our financial sector clients, a sustainable and specialised delivery setup inside the EU for our Assurance and Managed Services.
Through what we observe on the market and in conversations with our clients, we are happy to see that the new Government clearly has a business-oriented stance with a focus on further developing the financial centre and further diversifying our economy as well as investing in the future skillsets of the country to generate the productivity gains our small, open and specialised economy needs.
For us, it has always been key to listen to our clients and other critical stakeholders. In the context of our voluntary adoption of the Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Directive (CSRD) (wherein we demonstrate we are “walking the talk”), we have gathered the following significant sustainability matters through a robust stakeholder engagement exercise carried out over the past months:
- Quality of services
- Ethics and business conduct
- Working conditions and proximity management
- Compliance and client data protection
- Contribution to society
- Climate change mitigation and energy consumption
We are already fully focused on these sustainability matters as this Annual Review shows. You will find publicly disclosed in the next pages all our main non-financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which we follow to monitor how we fare compared to those priority areas.
For FY25, we expect a more challenging year. Although we have seen the first lowering of central bank interest rates on either side of the Atlantic, the soft (or hard) landing of the economies is yet to fully materialise and will impact some of our services.
In such a context, we will remain very focused on:
- Our main market priorities being a well-balanced book of core services (Assurance, Tax, Advisory), the development of our Managed Services scope and client base, our Sustainability Services and the support in the transforming our clients’ businesses through regulatory, operational and technology (also (Gen) AI) skill sets.
- The transformation of our own delivery model through technological innovation (including through (Gen) AI).
- Scaling up and making PwC Services Portugal a relevant and value-adding venture for our clients and teams.
- Building out our unique people-centred corporate culture around:
- Further fostering proximity with our People and their flexibility, health and well-being,
- Strengthening specifically our following cultural traits: Excellence, Entrepreneurship and Walking-the-talk, and
- Encouraging a speak-up culture and strong ethical behaviour.
On a long-term basis and in line with the previous year, we remain optimistic. Therefore, we continue to invest heavily in our business, and we do not allow ourselves to be distracted by short-term market volatilities.
I would like to thank our clients for the continued trust they put in our services and in our Firm. And I would like to specifically thank all the Partners and all our People for all the efforts provided. Villmools merci!
I hope you find this Annual Review useful and impactful. I value any feedback to be received because it is only through constructive criticism that we can adapt and improve.
Warm regards
François Mousel, Managing Partner
PwC Luxembourg Annual Review 2024
