According to a trading update for the quarter ended 31 December 2017, NFI growth was led by “excellent growth of 17% in the group’s Continental Europe & Rest of World business, with Germany NFI up 19% and France up 14%”.

Asia Pacific saw NFI rise 16%, with Australia up 14% and Asia up 24% on the previous year.

More muted NFI growth was posted in the UK, however, with UK & Ireland up just 1%. Here the group’s private sector business grew 4%, while public sector markets remained tough, with net fees down 8% on the same quarter last year.

Commenting on the group’s performance, CEO Alistair Cox said: “We have delivered another strong quarter of broad-based growth with net fees up 13% and 24 of our 33 countries delivering double-digit growth. Performance in Continental Europe was excellent, led by Germany, our largest business, which grew by 19% and where we continued to materially invest in consultant headcount. Australia delivered another strong, market-leading performance and in Asia we delivered excellent growth. In the UK our business remained stable overall.”

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