Macfarlanes posts 24% increase in PEP to £2.6m for 2023-24 as turnover climbs nearly 14%
Macfarlanes has released its latest financial results, reporting revenue of £309.1m and operating profit of £174m for an 11-month period ending 31 March 2024.
Annualised results show turnover increased 13.7%, while operating profit climbed 23% on the previous financial year.
Profit per equity partner, which was worked out for a comparative 11-month period, soared 23.8% to £2.6 million – a new high for Macfarlanes and a result that comes after the firm last year reported a 16% decline in PEP against a 6% dip in profit.
Macfarlanes confirmed that it has brought its financial year-end forward to bring it in line with the UK tax year after HMRC changed its basis period rules to tax all self-employed individuals and partnerships on the basis of the tax year rather than their individual financial year-end – a change that has complicated financial reporting this year for a number of UK firms including Fieldfisher.
‘We were fortunate that our mix of practices saw high demand in 2023-24 in a challenging environment’, said senior partner Sebastian Prichard Jones in a statement. ‘We saw particularly strong performances from our transactional practices, especially with clients operating in the financial services space. Our ability to operate in the overlap between entrepeneurs and their businesses stood us in good stead.’
He continued: ‘Our litigation and investigations practice, which has doubled in size over the last ten years, enjoyed a record year. Our market leading private client and tax practices saw extraordinary demand and we expect this to continue.
‘Our thanks go to our clients for continuing to trust us with their mandates and to our people for their contribution to the continued success of the firm.’
Looking ahead, Macfarlanes will return to a 12 -month financial year end running 1 April-31 March, with new partners to be made up each year on 1 April.