With the tie-up between Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan almost a year old, the latest accounts for the non-US business reveal its c-suite took a £1.7m pay cut for the 2016/17 financial year, as the limited liability partnership (LLP) filing also reveals average remuneration per member rebounded slightly from the previous year’s drop. Meanwhile, staff costs for the legacy Eversheds business have continued to increase with double-digit percentage growth.
The firm’s key management team saw remuneration fall 22% to £6m in the 2016/17 financial year, according to the latest Eversheds Sutherland International accounts. The share of profit and salaries awarded to its chief executive, managing partner and members of the executive committee was £7.7m the previous financial year.
Eversheds Sutherland’s highest-paid member earned £1.4m in the year to 30 April 2017, a slight dip on the previous year’s £1.43m, and a further fall from the £1.5m earned in the year before that.
This is as the firm’s turnover increased 8% to £436.4m, while overall profit rose to £130.2m from £124.4m. The UK accounted for £345.7m of revenue, up from £340.2m, while the rest of Europe rose to £50.6m from £36.8m. Revenue from the rest of the world increased 40% to £39.1m.
Staff costs at Eversheds Sutherland were up more than 10% to £191.9m, as the number of members rose to 333 from 323 and overall staff numbers lifted to 3,056 from 2,963. Average remuneration per member lifted £5,000 to £391,000, a slight rebound from the 10% drop in the previous year.
Eversheds Sutherland’s operating loss in its various international joint ventures decreased to £550,000 from £720,000, as group operating profit before the joint ventures increased 4% to £132m.
Eversheds Sutherland has been expanding since its merger on 1 February 2017, most recently last week when it acquired the Dutch firm that had been part of its European network for ten years, formally adding Eversheds Sutherland Netherlands to the international LLP.
The merger followed one with Harry Elias Partners in Singapore in June 2017 and the firm’s opening of offices in Düsseldorf, Luxembourg, Moscow and St Petersburg.