CMS Cameron McKenna has seen turnover increase but profitability fall for its offices under the UK LLP, according to the firm’s latest filings with Companies House.
The accounts show turnover for the 2015/16 financial year was up to £267.3m, an increase of around 2% on the £262.9m posted the previous year. While UK turnover remained steady at £219m, turnover from the LLP’s international offices increased 11% from £40m to £44.5m.
Profitability, however, took a hit with profits available for distribution to members falling 18% from £61.6m in 2014/15 to £50.3m this year. The firm’s highest paid member was distributed around 9% more, £860,000 compared to £788,000 the year before.
In a statement the firm said: ‘This reported fall in profits was due to an exceptional item. We made a decision last year for a small amount of restructuring within our partnership that, under accounting conventions, required the accelerated recognition of costs that would have otherwise fallen in the next 3 years. Overall, our balance sheet remains healthy and our strong cash position has allowed us to repay surplus capital held in the business and end the year in a strong position.’
These LLP accounts report the offices of Camerons under the UK group, which includes its Cameron McKenna’s UK offices, along with branches in Budapest, Prague, Kyiv, Warsaw, Bucharest, Sofia, Muscat, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro and Dubai. They also account for its share of joint ventures with the CMS grouping of ten European firms in Moscow and Istanbul.
Internationally, the CMS group reported more than €1bn in turnover last year, which the firm stated represented a 8% increase on the previous year.
The falling profitability comes ahead of the firm’s merger with Nabarro and Olswang, set to go live on 1 May, which is expected to give Camerons revenues of around £450m in the UK alone.
Olswang’s latest LLPs revealed the firm cut its bank loan revolving credit facility from £14m to £13m this year. The accounts also showed profit allocated to the highest paid member at the firm for 2016 was £759,000.
Merger partner Nabarro recently reported it had moved to cut its pension deficit ahead of the combination in its LLP filings. The firm more than halved its pension liability from £32m to £12.2m – injecting £4.4m in the last financial year to cut the deficit more quickly.
Meanwhile, turnover for Mayer Brown’s UK LLP dropped by 3% in 2016 to £105m, down from £109m the year previous, while profit per member fell sharply.
The US firm’s highest paid UK LLP member received £1.5m, up from £1.4m in 2015. Average profit per member decreased by 17% to £426,745 for 2016, falling from £515,464.
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk