Strong first half for law firm
LAW firm Addleshaw Goddard has reported an 11% increase in fee income to £91.8m in the first half of its financial year after benefiting from increased market confidence across a range of sectors.
Highlights for the Leeds office included Acromas Holidays acquisition of Destinology and Endless’ acquisition of Kiddicare from Morrisons.
The office also advised Skipton Building Society on a trio of deals, including the sale of its Private Health Partnership to Punter Southall Group, the sale of its mortgage servicing subsidiary Homeloan Management to Computershare for £47.5m, and, most recently, the sale of its Torquil Clark wealth management operation to wealth manager Bellpenny.
Property deals included acting for Hungate, a joint venture between Evan Property Group and Lend Lease on the construction aspects of their phased £150m mixed-use urban regeneration of the Hungate area in York.
Commenting on the firm’s performance for the six months to October 31, managing partner John Joyce said: “We saw strong financial performance across the business during the second half of last year, and that momentum has continued through the first two quarters of 14/15. We’ve benefited from greater market confidence across a number of sectors, and continued to invest in the business, in the UK and internationally, to grow existing relationships and capture greater market share.
“We are pleased to be able to post double digit growth in H1 but would not necessarily expect the full year figures to continue that trend to quite the same extent given our strong close to 13/14 and less certainty about market conditions for the second half. That said, it is our strongest H1 performance for a number of years and the commitment and effort of partners and staff across the firm has been the key factor in delivering this.”
