Manches

UK 200 RESULTS 2010

Position:
Movement since 2009

Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):

79
DOWN

31.1
211
151.85
115-672
4
13
188.5
230.4
575.9
1,636.8
165
135
54
19
20
5
324
6.11

If Manches’ abortive talks with Halliwells in September 2009 over the acquisition of the latter’s London office foundered for all the obvious reasons (Halliwells’ City offering was simply not making enough money to be attractive), its decline in gross fees over

three years – despite its countercyclical litigation, private client and IP bias – may have prompted the desire to bulk up in the capital.

Of its £31.1m turnover, £21.3m came from London (Manches accounts on a calendar year basis, so its most recent figures relate to 2009), but the top line dropped from £34.1m in 2008. Revenue per lawyer dropped from £240,000 to £230,000.

London and Oxford operate separate profit pools: the net in London was £3m on a turnover of £21.3m, with a margin of 14 per cent and an average profit per equity partner (PEP) for its 12 London equity partners of £251,000. The firm’s powerful private client and family law practice, which turns over £11.5m, represents 37 per cent of the firm’s billings and is based largely in London. Oxford (which includes a satellite office in Reading) has a strong IP and commercial bias. It produced a margin of 10 per cent on a turnover of £9.8m, yielding a PEP of £140,000 for its seven equity partners.

Across the firm margins dropped slightly from 13 per cent to 12.7 per cent, but the overall PEP rose from £209,000 to £211,000, helped by the reduction in the number of equity partners from 22 to 19.

UK 200 RESULTS 2009

Position:
Movement since 2008

Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):

74
UP

34.1
209
156.4
152 - 692
4.6
13
185
240
620
1,550
184
142
55
22
20
6
364
5.45

The collapse of the real estate market hit Manches hard in the last financial year, but the firm managed to maintain a steady turnover nonetheless.

Total revenue was down just 0.8 per cent on the previous year from £34.4m to £34.1m. This is even more surprising given that the firm lost two partners to rival Stewarts Law. Manches brought in Clive Zeitman and Andrew Shaw in 2004, claiming they were two litigators willing to take on the big banks. Their departure to Stewarts effectively left the firm without a litigation practice.

The strong family group, which includes heavyweight Lady Helen Ward, helped the firm remain steady. Revenue per partner continued to rise for the fifth year in a row to £620,000 from £614,000, although average profit per equity partner (PEP) fell 7.9 per cent from £227,000 to £209,000, the lowest point since the 2004-05 year end when PEP stood at £209,000.

Manches’ profit margin was also squeezed to its tightest point in five years, down from 16 to 13 per cent from a high of 19 per cent in 2004-05.