Speechly Bircham has unveiled its financial results for the 2013/14 year, with preliminary figures showing that revenue was down slightly by 1.2% to £56.8m while net profit stands at £11.8m and profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 5% to £312,000.
The results follow the announcement on Wednesday (16 July) that the top 55 UK firm has voted to tie-up with Charles Russell, creating a firm with 170 partners, 500 lawyers and combined revenues of £135m, projecting the combined Charles Russell Speechlys into the top 30 of the LB 100.
The latest financial results, which follow flat revenue in the 2012/13 and a marginal drop in PEP of 1%, have not seen the PEP rebound forecast last year, after double digit partner exits saw the City-headquartered firm forecast a 25% growth in PEP for 2013/14.
Highlights of the past year year included opening a second office in Switzerland, launching in Geneva last autumn to bolster its existing presence in Zurich.
Speechly’s managing partner James Carter said: ‘Our approach last year was to set ourselves a target of maintaining fee income and net income levels but improve profitability. We didn’t achieve budget but then last year we didn’t assume to open any foreign offices, and we effectively doubled our foreign offices. Looked at in that light, we could have done nothing and just focused purely on profits or we could have taken steps to build the practice. It was a reasonable year.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
