Ashurst results: profits rocket 23 per cent on 7 per cent turnover rise

Ashurst has posted strong profit figures for the financial year-end, with average profit per equity partner (PEP) up 23 per cent to £701,000 compared to last year’s £567,000.

The results come on the back of a relatively modest growth in revenues to £214m, up seven per cent on the previous year’s figure of £201m.

Top equity partners at Ashurst will be earning £875,000 compared to £718,000 the previous year, while entry-level equity partners will make £350,000 - up from £287,000 in 2004-05.

In a presentation to staff earlier this evening (13 June), the management revealed that the rise in revenues was achieved on a static fee-earner headcount.

Managing partner Simon Bromwich said: “The figures reflect our strength across Western Europe and we have significantly driven up profitability.

“We’ve made a strong start to the new financial year and the outlook is very encouraging. We’re confident that we will deliver profitable growth across the firm this year, with a significant rise in income.”

The results follow a year of quiet restructuring at the silver circle firm, which has seen a certain amount of culling in the partner ranks.

It also represents a comeback in the second half of the year after a sluggish first six months, when Ashurst grossed £84m.

Ashurst sources said that Paris and Madrid had achieved their best ever revenue figures. In January the firm revealed plans to expand its offices outside the UK with an aggressive growth campaign.

Earlier this year Geoffrey Green told The Lawyer that the firm was aiming for its overseas offices to generate at least a third of overall revenue.

2005-6 also saw Ashurst make a series of lateral hires on the Continent, following a period when it was raided by a number of US firms, most notably Latham & Watkins. In January Ashurst took teams from Haarmann in Germany and Allen & Overy in Italy.