Addleshaw Goddard has kept pace with an emerging trend over the past month, posting robust financial results for 2020/21 following a pandemic-hit year previously.
Revenue this time around is up 12% to £321m from £288m in 2019/2020. The firm said this constitutes an eighth year of successive income growth, ‘delivered notwithstanding the challenges of the year’. Following further planned investments in new offices, infrastructure and people, the closing cash position of £108m is ‘a record for AG, underpinning the firm’s balance sheet strength’.
Profit has also seen impressive growth, after a minor fall last year. Total distributable profit reached £136m, equal to a margin of 42%, while profit per equity partner hit £849,000 – a striking 23% leap from the previous year, where PEP fell 5% to £690,000.
In addition, the total bonus provision for AG this year will be ‘three times larger than the prior year, which itself had been a record, to reflect the positive outcome for the year’.
Managing partner John Joyce (pictured), who began a third successive four-year term in May, said: ‘We are incredibly proud of the people we have at AG. Their combined team effort and our great clients have seen us deliver strong growth, higher profitability and further balance sheet strength in challenging times. In the last year we have kept many investments on track and our teams have overcome tremendous disruption to support our efforts including the successful opening of our France office a year after launching in Germany and I can’t thank them enough. We will continue to try to be as flexible and supportive as we can be in order to help people succeed and are investing heavily in bonuses this year as well in recognition of people’s efforts.
He added: ‘Looking ahead our intention is to build on the growth we have seen and the investments we have been making in order to continue delivering to clients a global business with ever more imaginative and impactful solutions.’
In terms of practice area performance, the firm reported that its litigation practice has grown around 20% year on year since 2017; finance & projects practice closed 11% up on the prior year; while corporate & commercial and real estate saw 8% and 7% growth respectively. Approximately 80% of the firm’s income is generated through its six core sectors: energy & utilities, financial services, healthcare, retail and consumer, real estate and transport. Highlights include advising Asda on matters relating to its sale by Walmart to a consortium of the Issa brothers and TDR Capital, and representing the Department of Transport in its successful defence against the challenge by multiple bidder consortia over their failure to secure multi-billion-pound rail franchises.
In unveling the results, the firm said that it had added 36 new partners in the past year – 23 laterally hired and 13 internally promoted – across key practice areas including capital markets, civil fraud, corporate governance, infrastructure, projects and energy and international arbitration.
