Bevan Brittan posts revenue drop as public sector cuts take hold

The firm said its decision to focus on its public sector offering had been hit by the Government’s comprehensive spending review, making 2010-11 a “challenging year”.

Net profit at the firm contracted by 4.6 per cent from £8.6m in 2009-10 to £8.2m. The firm’s profit margin, however, nudged up to 24 per cent from 23 per cent last year. This is a marked incease on the 14 per cent margin the firm posted for 2006-07.

Average profit per equity partner (PEP) reached a five-year high at £303,000, up 5.2 per cent from £288,000.

Bevan Brittan said a bonus pool would be established for employees following the completion of an internal audit.

Chief executive Andrew Manning said in a statement: “As the leading public services law firm, 2010-11 has been challenging for us, with the change in Government and the steps to reduce the budget deficit through the Comprehensive Spending Review - leading to a series of policy changes and - or delays in decision making that impacted core areas of work, the changes to the Building Schools for the Future programme being a prime example.

“This, coupled with tough economic conditions in general, and the run-off of our decision in preceding years to exit some markets and services to focus on the public services arena, where we’re market leaders, meant that our revenues for 2010-11 fell by 9 per cent to just under £35m.”

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