Mott MacDonald Turnover: Record £2.52bn Revenue in 2024 and Five Years of Sustained Growth Analysed

From Pandemic Headwinds to Record Revenue: Mott MacDonald's Five-Year Financial Journey

Few global engineering consultancies can point to a more consistent or strategically deliberate growth trajectory over the past five years than Mott MacDonald. The employee-owned engineering consultancy reported a record turnover of £2.5 billion for the year ended 31 December 2024, marking a six per cent increase on 2023's £2.3 billion. That headline figure, significant in isolation, becomes considerably more telling when set against the full arc of the firm's financial performance since 2019: a period that encompassed a global pandemic, a sharp inflationary cycle, geopolitical disruption across several of its core markets, and the most significant restructuring of global infrastructure investment priorities in a generation. What follows is a detailed year-by-year analysis of Mott MacDonald's revenue progression, the forces driving it, and what the firm's financial position reveals about the wider engineering consultancy market.

Company Background

Mott MacDonald is a privately held, employee-owned engineering, management and development consultancy headquartered in Croydon, United Kingdom, and founded in its current form through the 1989 merger of Mott, Hay and Anderson and Sir M MacDonald & Partners. The firm now employs over 19,500 staff across operations in 150 countries, working across sectors including transport, energy, water, buildings, health, education, digital infrastructure, ports, tunnels, and international development. Its employee ownership model, in which all shares are held by a trust on behalf of current and former employees, is a defining feature that shapes its culture, investment decisions, and long-term strategic orientation.

Five-Year Turnover: Year by Year

2019: The Pre-Pandemic Baseline

Mott MacDonald entered the 2020s from a position of solid, if unspectacular, financial health. Net funds stood at £83.6 million in 2019, providing a reasonable buffer but reflecting a business that was still building liquidity discipline. Revenue for 2019 was approximately £1.50 billion at group level, consistent with steady but modest growth through the mid-2010s. This figure serves as the base from which the subsequent five-year arc becomes most revealing.

2020: The Pandemic Year

The Covid-19 pandemic created immediate and tangible disruption across the engineering consultancy sector. Site access restrictions, delayed public sector procurement decisions, frozen international development programmes, and the temporary paralysis of several infrastructure markets all weighed on revenue across the industry. Mott MacDonald's UK-based design-and-build subsidiary JN Bentley experienced an 11% drop in revenue, shedding 15% of its workforce and cutting staff pay for three months as workload contracted sharply. At the group level, consolidated revenue for 2020 was approximately £1.57 billion, reflecting modest nominal growth that masked genuine underlying pressure in several geographies and sectors.

The pandemic period did, however, demonstrate the structural resilience of the employee-owned model. Without the earnings-per-share pressures that drive publicly listed consultancies towards short-term cost reduction, Mott MacDonald was able to maintain its investment in people, digital capability, and market positioning through the downturn, positioning it well for recovery.

2021: Recovery Takes Hold

As infrastructure markets began reopening and government stimulus programmes translated into renewed project activity, Mott MacDonald's revenue recovered meaningfully. Group turnover for 2021 reached approximately £1.65 billion, with the firm's water, energy, and transport sectors all contributing to the rebound. The UK's AMP7 water regulatory cycle, combined with early momentum in the energy transition and continued rail infrastructure investment in North America, provided the demand backdrop for a partial recovery.

2022: Accelerating Growth to £2.05 Billion

Mott MacDonald's 2022 gross revenue reached £2.05 billion, a landmark milestone that took the firm through the £2 billion barrier for the first time. This represented year-on-year growth of approximately 24% on 2021, reflecting both a strong post-pandemic rebound and genuine market share gains across several key sectors. The energy transition was emerging as a structural driver of engineering consultancy demand, with governments globally committing to renewable energy, grid modernisation, and decarbonisation programmes at a scale that translated directly into billable advisory and engineering work. Transport, particularly in North America where major federal infrastructure investment was beginning to flow through to project awards, also contributed significantly to the 2022 result.

2023: Record-Breaking £2.37 Billion

Mott MacDonald delivered gross revenue of £2.37 billion in 2023, up 15.8% on 2022, generating a pre-tax profit of £112.9 million, and increasing its headcount by 10% to almost 20,000 people. The performance was notable for its breadth: growth was not dependent on any single geography or sector but reflected simultaneous advances across the UK, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Pre-tax profit reached £112.9 million, with net cash of £380 million and shareholders' equity increasing from £356 million to £417 million. These balance sheet metrics are particularly instructive: a consultancy firm with no long-term debt and nearly £380 million in net cash is an organisation of considerable financial strength, with the capacity to invest in acquisitions, talent, and digital capability without recourse to external funding.

In the UK, the firm's role as interim delivery partner for the New Hospital Programme and its growing nuclear and small modular reactor advisory work were significant revenue contributors. In North America, landmark transit and infrastructure projects including the Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access scheme and the Los Angeles Regional Connector in 2023 delivered major contract completions. Mott MacDonald also opened a new office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, signalling its intent to deepen its position in the Gulf's expanding infrastructure market.

2024: A New High at £2.52 Billion

Mott MacDonald reported a record turnover of £2.52 billion for 2024, representing a 6% increase on the previous year's £2.37 billion. Operating profit rose 9.5% to £100.6 million, while pre-tax profit improved by 9.1% to £123.2 million, with operating and pre-tax margins of 4% and 4.9% respectively. These margin figures are consistent with the prior year and reflect a business managing cost inflation effectively without sacrificing investment in talent and capability. Net funds grew 385.4% over the five-year period from £83.6 million in 2019 to £405.9 million in 2024, a figure that encapsulates the cumulative financial discipline and operational cash generation that underpins the firm's current strength.

Organic revenue growth of 7.6% was indicative of strong underlying performance, with the remainder attributable to acquisitions. In Australia and New Zealand, Mott MacDonald strengthened its capability through the acquisition of specialist consultancies Merz and Neo Engineering, respectively, and was selected by Queensland Hydro to provide engineering services for the proposed energy hydro storage system at Lake Borumba. In Saudi Arabia, the firm was appointed as city infrastructure engineer for the first phase of The Line within the NEOM development.

The UK water sector also emerged as a standout performer. The contracting business in the UK's water sector grew 31%, benefiting from opportunities in the UK's regulated Asset Maintenance Programmes (AMP8), confirming that the new regulatory cycle is already generating material revenue for firms with established utility client relationships.

Revenue at a Glance: 2019 to 2024

The five-year progression in approximate figures tells a compelling story of consistent expansion:

• 2019: ~£1.50 billion

• 2020: ~£1.57 billion (pandemic-impacted)

• 2021: ~£1.65 billion (recovery phase)

• 2022: £2.05 billion (first £2bn+ year)

• 2023: £2.37 billion (+15.8%)

• 2024: £2.52 billion (+6.1%, record)

This represents cumulative revenue growth of approximately 68% over five years, achieved entirely organically or through bolt-on acquisitions, without recourse to external equity or debt financing. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the period sits at approximately 11%, a figure that compares favourably with most listed engineering consultancy peers over the same period.

Key Growth Drivers

Several structural factors have consistently underpinned Mott MacDonald's revenue trajectory across this period.

Energy transition has been the most powerful macro tailwind. The global shift towards renewable energy, grid modernisation, hydrogen infrastructure, and nuclear new-build has created sustained demand for the engineering advisory and design services that sit at the core of Mott MacDonald's offering. The firm's appointments in nuclear, including work with Holtec Britain and Hyundai Engineering & Construction on small modular reactor technology, and its support for National Grid's high-voltage renewable connectivity links, exemplify the breadth of its energy portfolio.

Infrastructure investment cycles in both the UK and North America have provided a durable revenue base. In the UK, successive water regulatory periods (AMP7 and now AMP8), the New Hospital Programme, and transport schemes have sustained a strong domestic pipeline. In North America, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has driven significant federal capital into transit, roads, and water infrastructure, directly benefiting firms with established positions in those markets.

Middle East expansion is an increasingly material contributor. The appointment as city infrastructure engineer for The Line at NEOM in Saudi Arabia, combined with the opening of a Riyadh office and ongoing work across the Gulf, positions Mott MacDonald to benefit from one of the most active infrastructure investment environments in the world. Mott MacDonald has also been appointed to develop airport masterplans across Saudi Arabia, reinforcing the depth of its engagement with Vision 2030 delivery.

Employee ownership as a strategic asset warrants explicit recognition. The firm's ownership structure enables long-term investment horizons that listed competitors cannot always match, lower voluntary staff turnover relative to the industry, and a cultural cohesion that supports consistent client service quality. These are genuine competitive advantages that contribute, over time, to revenue resilience and client retention.

Profitability and Balance Sheet

Mott MacDonald's profit margins, at approximately 4% at operating level and 4.9% at pre-tax level, are in line with typical engineering consultancy benchmarks and reflect the labour-intensive, people-led nature of the business. Net cash inflow from operations rose 13.1% to £114.1 million in 2024, an important indicator of the quality of the firm's earnings: revenue growth is translating into real cash, not simply paper profits. The near-fourfold increase in net funds over five years reinforces this picture of a business generating substantial free cash flow and deploying it selectively into acquisitions and capability investment rather than distributing it externally.

Challenges and Risks

Mott MacDonald's results do not exist in a risk-free environment. Geopolitical disruptions and economic uncertainty, including fluctuating inflation and interest rates, have continued to challenge global markets. Constrained public sector budgets in several European markets, particularly the UK where central government capital spending has faced political pressure, create periodic headwinds for a firm that draws significant revenue from publicly funded programmes. The consulting sector specifically experienced slower growth in 2024 relative to 2022 and 2023, with the contracting and water businesses compensating for softer consulting margins in some geographies.

Currency volatility also represents a structural sensitivity for a firm generating revenue across more than 50 countries but reporting in sterling. A strong pound relative to the dollar, euro, or Australian dollar can suppress reported revenue growth even when underlying performance is robust in local currency terms.

Outlook for 2025 and Beyond

James Harris stated that the company finished 2024 with positive lead indicators for winning work, order book, business prospects, and profitability of projects recently bid and/or won, and expressed cautious optimism about the market picture for 2025. The AMP8 water cycle in the UK is still in its early phases and will sustain significant contractor and consultant revenue through to 2030. The Middle East pipeline, anchored by Saudi giga-projects and Gulf-wide infrastructure programmes, continues to grow. North American federal infrastructure spending remains active. And the energy transition, far from abating, is accelerating its demands on technical advisory capacity across nuclear, renewables, hydrogen, and grid infrastructure.

For competitors, clients, and supply chain partners tracking the engineering consultancy market, Mott MacDonald's five-year financial trajectory offers a clear reference point: a firm that navigated a global pandemic without structural damage, capitalised decisively on the post-pandemic infrastructure super-cycle, and is now approaching a scale that places it firmly in the top tier of global engineering consultancies, all while remaining entirely owned by its own employees.