The UK’s largest risk and specialist analytics consultancy, 4most, has revealed ambitious international expansion plans just one year on from a major investment from Phoenix Equity Partners.
Having recently moved into a number of high growth market sectors including data and market risk, the company has increased its revenue by 23 per cent in the last 12 months alone. Today, 4most has also announced it has secured new premises in Amsterdam and is set to open there in the summer. This investment follows a raft of other UK and international office openings over the last eighteen months in Dubai, Bengaluru, Leeds and Dublin and most recently, Edinburgh, which opened its doors last month.
The company is also actively looking to secure new premises in Canada and South Africa as well as a further office in the Middle East as part of a longer-term investment plan to accelerate its international presence as a specialist consultancy and attract high-end skilled talent.
CEO at 4most, Rob McDowell explained, “Like most businesses operating in the professional services sector, since Brexit, we’ve seen a significant reduction in high calibre European applicants for UK based roles, which are vital for growth and innovation. It no longer makes sense to position ourselves as a UK hub. We’re a people first business and we have to expand our international footprint, opening multiple offices across Europe and further afield if we are to tap into the raft of global talent out there,” he said, “in the early days, our revenue was 95 per cent UK, but today 40 per cent of our revenue is generated outside of the UK, so we see this as a huge growth opportunity.”
With more than 300 employees internationally, overseas is not the only area 4most is seeing growth. Expansion of the London head office, which has doubled in size, also led to the company moving to new premises in Monument Place last month, where it has the capacity to expand further.
Over the last 12 months, 4most has moved into a number of other high growth market sectors. Its data practice which opened in January last year has seen rapid growth, climbing from one to 25 people in under 12 months. The company is also investing in new use cases of AI in consulting, having built machine learning models for many years, alongside the creation of several learning labs which it says are designed to upskill its consultants in the growing field of AI before launching to clients.
“It’s been a busy and exciting year. We’ve seen a big shift across the market where clients are veering away from generalist consultancies and moving towards more specialist services. We’re confident about building a robust international presence and we’re on a mission to redefine consulting because we believe all employees should be rewarded for company success. We’ve proven that when it comes to building a team of engaged consultants that our clients can count on, people-first works,” added McDowell.
Just one year on from the investment from Phoenix Equity Partners, which acquired a majority stake in the business, 4most has unveiled fresh new branding to better reflect its specialist approach and people-orientated vision, with every employee being involved in choosing the look and feel.
“People are the lifeblood of 4most, everyone is a shareholder, so it made sense to involve everyone in revitalising the brand. On the same token, the investment from Phoenix was closely aligned to our people-centric approach, unlocking more value for our employees and allowing us to issue more shares to everyone back in November last year,” added McDowell.