Foster + Partners has almost doubled its profit on the back of expansion into the Middle East.
The architecture firm run by Sir Norman Foster saw revenue fall by £33m to £200m for the year ending 30 April. But pretax profit rose from £19.8m to £36.2m, higher than in 2019.
The firm said it had braced for a severe financial hit with the start of the pandemic, but its “remarkable financial resilience” instead allowed it to gain scores of new projects.
The Middle East is now the practice’s biggest region, where it has four offices.
Foster + Partners made a £8.8m payment to 180 of its senior employee “partners” on top of their salaries. However, total pay for the 10 directors fell from £20.3m to £12.3m.
Pay for the highest-paid director, thought to be Lord Foster, fell from £2.3m to £1.4m.
