TLT has reported a 9% rise in revenue to £157m from £144m last year. This follows a standout year in 2021/2022, which saw turnover rocket by 30%.
However, the firm has seen profit per equity partner take a dramatic dip, falling 27% to £600,000 from last year’s £826,000, while equity partner headcount has increased marginally from 39 to 42.
Commenting on the reasons for the fall in PEP, managing partner John Wood (pictured) said: ‘We had an exceptionally high year last year, due to a unique set of circumstances. Combined with this we have been making significant investments in our people and our sustainability initiatives, and there are more general inflationary pressures on top of that.’
Its sustainable initiatives include a recent office move to Cadworks, Glasgow’s first net-zero office, and an upcoming move to sustainable office block Eden in Manchester.
Wood was sanguine about the fall in PEP, adding: ‘That’s fine and it’s what we expected to happen. Would we pause on doing any of the things we are doing? Not at all, I don’t think there’s time to pause, particularly in relation to sustainability and technology.’
The firm is now in the third year of its four-year roadmap, having already surpassed its £140m target set for 2025. Discussing the 2025 strategy, Wood said: ‘It’s faring really well. We set the strategy pre-pandemic and started it during the pandemic. There was a bit of a lull initially but since then we have been working really hard. The financial metrics are a sum of our success rather than the success itself. We are focusing on the growth of the business, and the numbers of our people. One of the big changes we have made has been around our sustainable premises. We will continue with more of the same as we push towards 2025, and we will start refining the strategy and thinking about our strategy for 2030 rather than 2025.’
Asked about the firm’s highest-performing practice areas Wood responded: ‘Across the board there has not been one particular area that is motoring ahead. In such a strange economic time our M&A practice is still doing really well, and our financial services practices are doing really well. We are strong across the board. Clean energy is doing particularly well, which makes up about a third of our corporate work.’
Looking forward, Wood said: ‘It is really difficult to predict. You can never be quite sure where the economic circumstances will go. However, clean energy will remain a key growth area. We have elections coming up and whatever colour of government we get, they are not going to pull back on investing in clean energy.’
In terms of recruitment next year, Wood commented: ‘We will continue to grow at pace. Our strategy around how you do that is about considering who we are as a firm. We remain fully flexible with the introduction of TLT World. We have found that is considerably attractive to joiners. You don’t make directives to get people back into the office, you create offices that are attractive places to be in.’