Addleshaw Goddard has credited its increased European footprint for the promising financial results released today (3 August), which saw revenue rise by 18% to £377m, and an increase in profit by 16% to £155m.
Regional revenue performance is also testament to the firm’s improvement in Europe. Though UK turnover was up a solid 15%, it paled in comparison with that generated overseas, which jumped a striking 30%.
Much of this growth is due to Addleshaw expanding European profile. In the last 12 months, the firm has opened offices in Dublin, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Munich, adding to the Paris and Hamburg bases which were established in the last couple of years.
The results see the firm outstrip last years’ performance, when it saw a 12% rise in revenue. The firm’s six core sectors all recorded growth. The finance & projects, corporate and commercial, and real estate practices were standouts, each achieving double-digit percentage revenue increases. Income from recruitment portal AG Integrate also spiked by 47%.
Headcount also increased. The overall lawyer number rose by 15% to 2,348, while 40 new partners were added across key practices globally. As part of the expansion in Ireland, there were 25 new partners.
Responding to the figures, managing partner John Joyce (pictured) said: ‘Our goal through the year was to continue investing in further growth and bringing to clients the advantages of a growing globally active business. It has been another challenging and changeable year and so to have materially grown both UK and global turnover is very satisfying. I am hugely proud of what our team has achieved across many different fronts to better support and service clients, to offer people a great place to work and to deliver our strongest performance to date.
‘The firm’s 18% revenue growth reflects two main underlying trends. Firstly, the year was a very busy one for our transactional teams, but generally across the firm we were busier than ever working across a greater number of offices on higher-value work. Activity levels surpassed the prior year in every month of the year in many teams and geographies, which is particularly impressive given the 20% growth we saw in each of the final six months of the prior year. Secondly, we made further material people investments, most notably responding to client demand for a meaningful presence in Ireland and Luxembourg as well as growing Paris and Germany. Already all of our European offices are working regularly together to offer a much wider experience for clients.’