Falling profits at DWF as it undertakes restructure
A SECOND year of consolidation has seen national law firm DWF report moderate turnover growth of 1% to £191m.
The firm also revealed a fall in profits and said it had trimmed nearly 200 staff in the year as a result of “natural attrition and minor restructurings which have helped to reshape the business in line with client needs.”
Net income for the 2014/15 financial year came in at £21m giving the firm a profit per equity partner figure of £325,000 – down 16% on last year’s £387,000 which was itself down 11% on 2012/13.
Profits were hit as the firm launched its first overseas office in Dubai and hired 24 new partners.
The firm also said it had refinanced loans and put in place a £45m facility provided by five lenders.
DWF’s managing partner and chief executive Andrew Leaitherland, said: “Our focus has very much been on integration of our people as well as consolidation following our mergers and acquisitions and our resource base is now set at an appropriate level to allow us to deliver our targeted revenue grow this year.
“We know it takes time to see the returns and it’s a good indicator of our business that we’ve continued to grow despite these investments, and also operating within markets such as insurance where our clients are experiencing challenges to which we’ve responded.”
“We’re an ambitious business and we intend to remain operating at the forefront of delivering legal services differently.”
The firm, which has 13 offices including Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, said its best-performing divisions were: corporate and banking (up 3% to £33m) and real estate (up 1% to £33m.
It said “fundamental changes” in the insurance market had led it to make strategic withdrawals from certain books of insurance business.
