George Davies profits fall in ‘tough year’
LAW firm George Davies has reported a 25% hit in profits in what managing partner Mark Hovell said had been a “tough year” for the legal sector.
Profits at the 14-partner Manchester firm fell by £670,000 to £2m and turnover was down 9% to £6.28m in the year to the end of April 2009.
Mr Hovell said the firm, which has 83 staff in total, had kept redundancies to a “handful”, and had since recruited a number of young solicitors.
Five trainees were kept on last year after qualifying, six have been hired this year, and a further three qualified solicitors have been taken on this year.
He said: “It is great to see that we have still managed to recruit during the downturn – this demonstrates that the equity partners have and will take any hit in profits to ensure that the talent at the firm is properly supported.
“We’re already nine months into 2009/10 financial year and trading is holding up well. We still have no bank debt and are well placed to grow the business.”
The firm is also on the verge of moving from its Fountain Street-base to a new city centre office.
Mr Hovell, who is a respected sports law expert, said George Davies was a “well rounded partnership”, which had seen its public sector and private client departments prospering, while other areas of the practice, such as corporate and property suffered as result of the recession.
