Simon-Kucher & Partners on track for yet another record-breaking year

Simon-Kucher & Partners is on track to booking yet another record-breaking year. Powerhouse markets Germany, France and the UK are driving the firm’s steep growth trajectory. 

In a press statement released yesterday, Georg Tacke, CEO of Simon-Kucher & Partners, stated that the management consultancy has in the first half of 2018 booked 19% higher revenue compared to the same period the year previous. “The past six months have been the strongest since Simon-Kucher was founded in 1985,” he said. In comparison, the global consulting market is estimated to have grown between 6% and 10% in the same period, depending on which analyst firm is sourced.

Revenue realised across the firm’s footprint of 37 offices in 20+ countries stood at €147 million in the period between January and end of June, and with a sales funnel of €166 million in the pipeline, “the second half of 2018 is set to be just as impressive,” commented Tacke. 

The sectors software, media, industry and tourism were the main drivers of growth – they all saw fee income jump by more than 50%. “These sectors are subject to extreme changes as a result of new digital opportunities. Many companies are still insufficiently prepared for these changes and as a result we are seeing heightened demand for advice on how to capitalise on opportunities,” explained Tacke. 

Unlike most of its rivals, Simon-Kucher & Partners focuses chiefly on growth consultancy. The firm’s offerings are geared at helping companies, multinationals, corporates and mid-sized companies expand their market share through entering new markets or enhancing business models, and with optimising top-line performance through among other areas improved sales, marketing and pricing effectiveness. Countries that contributed most to growth were the larger markets of Germany, France and the UK. “In all these three markets we achieved growth rates of around 25%. This shows that the so-called saturated markets still offer great sales potential.” Smaller offices too are demonstrating strong performance; Simon-Kucher’s Dutch office for instance saw its workforce grow by 26% in six months, building on 28% revenue growth booked last year. 

The consulting firm has nevertheless continued its international push as part of its roadmap to become a truly global firm and a challenger, in terms of size, to larger peers such as A.T. Kearney, Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger and Strategy&. In 2016 Simon-Kucher & Partners expanded into Switzerland (Geneva) and Sweden (Stockholm), and pushed deeper into Germany and the US with new offices in Hamburg and a second office in Silicon Valley. In 2017 it opened an office in Hong Kong and in the first half of this year the consultancy opened its first on the ground operation in Africa, in Cairo, followed by an office in Chicago, Simon-Kucher’s sixth location in the US. 

Last month the management consultancy also opened a locale in Shanghai. “China is one of our core markets,” said Tacke. “Shanghai is a global leading financial center and an important economic hotspot. The opening of a new office is therefore a logical step – we can now better serve our customers in the region and further expand our Chinese activities.” Within the space of a few weeks, a new office in Mexico will follow, which will become the firm’s third Latin American presence. 

Looking ahead towards the end of 2018, Tacke, who joined Simon-Kucher just three years after its founding and has been leading the company since May 2009 (from 2009 to 2016 together with Klaus Hilleke), said: “We expect total revenue to near the €290 to €300 million mark.” Just in January this year, the firm celebrated achieving the milestone of €250 million in revenues.

Related: Simon-Kucher sees revenues soar and footprint surpass 1,000 staff.