Administrators Grant Thornton sued Saffery claiming the audit of Greensill Capital (UK) Limited for financial year end December 2019 was ‘negligent’, arguing that had the audit been conducted correctly, the scale of losses could have been flagged earlier, potentially avoiding the collapse of the business.

Now Grant Thornton administrators have confirmed they have ‘made a recovery pursuant to a confidential settlement entered into with GCUK’s former auditor’.

The £71m settlement agreement, confirmed in the latest statement of affairs filing at Companies House, represents a significant financial hit for Saffery, which reported annual fee income of £163.2m for financial year end 31 March 2025. Facing a damages claim of this magnitude, the firm will face a 40% hit to revenue in FY26. Likely Saffery settled out of court as the risk of a negative outcome at the High Court could have resulted in significantly higher damages for the audit firm.