Currie & Brown to advise Greece and Mexico on PPP

Consultant Currie & Brown has been drafted in by the governments of Greece and Mexico to advise on PPP.

Its teams will explain how to organise, design, build and operate contracts for hospitals, schools, fire departments, power plants and sports facilities. The firm’s PPP procurement advice service accounts for 20% of its £52m turnover.

The firm has completed two contracts with the Mexican government, providing consultancy services for procuring an Olympic training facility in the city of Leon and a hydroelectric dam in the state of Guanajuato. The consultant has opened an office in Mexico and there are plans to launch an office in Greece.

Santiago Klein, a director at Currie & Brown, said most of the staff in Mexico and Greece would be Mexican or Greek. He said: “They’re mostly local professionals, almost all of whom have been educated in the UK. It’s better that they’re local, to overcome language and cultural barriers.”

Klein added that, in its field, Currie & Brown was unique in offering this service. “The companies we’re up against are businesses like KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, not construction consultants like us. To provide this service you have to offer a great knowledge base of technological, financial, legal and regulatory advice. There are few companies that can offer expertise on all these like us.”

Steve Prior, a director at Currie & Brown, said: “Recent successes on the concession consultancy and technical advisory side play a major part in our long-term growth strategy. Continued growth in developing markets overseas will present many more opportunities.”

Currie & Brown reported a pre-tax profit of £1.2m for the year ending 31 March 2005, a 109% increase from the previous year, when it reported a figure of £581,000. Turnover last year was £54.5m, compared with £44m the previous year. The firm also said that 80% of its future order book had been secured.