UK top-50 firm Trowers & Hamlins has unveiled mixed financials for the 2013/14 financial year, with net profits up almost 15% from £15.8m to £18.1m, while global revenue was down by 1.4% to £77.2m from £78.3m last year.
Profit per equity partner (PEP) at the 313-lawyer firm was up to £320,000 in 2013/14, an increase of 4% compared with the 2012/13 figure of £304,000, which represented a 37% drop on the year before.
Trowers’ highest earning equity member was awarded £454,000, while the lowest took home £182,000.
The firm blamed its marginal drop in revenue on exchange rate differences. In the UK, revenue remained more or less steady at £61.3m compared to £61.5m the previous year.
The real estate practice was singled out as the star performer of the year, with inward investment into the UK from the Middle East and Far East helping real estate to generate 43% of the firm’s overall turnover. Some 30% of the firm’s overall revenue came from its corporate practice, followed by 17% from disputes, 6% from finance and 4% from other areas.
Trowers & Hamlins senior partner Jennie Gubbins said: ‘We are pleased with these results, as boosting profitability has been one of the top priorities for the management team since I took over as senior partner last year.
‘Real estate remains a key area for the firm, alongside our corporate, public sector, finance, litigation and private wealth practices, and we will continue to strengthen these areas in the year ahead.’
The 123-partner firm has four offices across the UK in London, Manchester, Exeter and Birmingham, and four offices across the Middle East in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, and Oman.
In March 2014, the firm built up its existing Birmingham base with the relocation of three public sector City lawyers in a bid to increase efficiency and cost-effectively service clients directly from its Midlands outpost.
Highlights of the year also include ending 2013/14 with no net debt.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
