Global consulting firm Oliver Wyman books 21% growth to $2.5 billion
Global strategy and management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has booked stellar growth in pandemic-hit 2021, with global revenues up by 21% to a record $2.5 billion.
In its latest financial year, Oliver Wyman managed to significantly outperform the growth of the global management consulting market – estimated at between 5% to 10% (depending on the source and market sizing used).
The 21% growth in fee income was driven by strong demand for services across its portfolio, including strategy, organisation, finance & risk, digital and operations.
Growth in 2021 was also driven by an inorganic move. In October, Oliver Wyman acquired the life sciences strategy business of Huron Consulting Group, adding a team of around 80 consultants to its US footprint. The deal was Oliver Wyman’s first since 2018.
Founded in 1984 by a senior team led by Alexander Oliver and William Wyman, Oliver Wyman today has over 5,000 consultants and staff working from 50+ offices worldwide. The firm is the parent of NERA Economic Consulting (economic consultancy) and Lippincott (creative services).
Oliver Wyman is recognised as one of the world’s leading global consulting firms in the tier-one segment, competing with the likes of the MBB (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Bain), the consulting arms of the Big Four (Deloitte Consulting including Monitor Deloitte, EY Advisory, KPMG Advisory, and PwC Advisory including Strategy&), as well as other industry majors such as Accenture and Capgemini Invent.
Looking ahead into 2022, the CEO of Oliver Wyman Nick Studer said: “We are not seeing any slowdown in activity in the first quarter. Our pipeline is strong. Based on the last twelve months and the first quarter, we are optimistic about our prospects because our growth is very well distributed in almost every industrial sector and across the vast majority of our functional expertise.”
“Whether it is payments or private equity, climate change or digital, growth strategy or cost management and restructuring, we are seeing growth across the firm. We’re not seeing an omicron effect at this point,” Studer added.
Last month, Oliver Wyman bolstered its presence in Australia with the bolt-on of Azure Consulting.
Marsh McLennan
Oliver Wyman is part of Marsh McLennan, a global professional services group that also includes Marsh (risk advisory services and insurance solutions), Guy Carpenter (risk and reinsurance services) and Mercer (human resources and pensions consulting).
For the year 2021, Marsh McLennan booked 15% growth (or 10% on an underlying basis) to $19.8 billion across its four business units. Operating income stood at $4.3 billion, and adjusted operating income rose 18% to $4.3 billion.
Commenting on the group’s results, Dan Glaser, the CEO of Marsh McLennan said: “In our 150th year, we produced one of the finest results in our Company's history. I am proud of our colleagues’ hard work, dedication and unwavering focus in achieving these results. With this outstanding year, we enter 2022 well positioned for continued growth.”
