Eversheds PEP falls by 27 per cent as revenue drops to £366m
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The financial cost of funding three rounds of redundancies has seen Eversheds’ average profit per equity partner (PEP) figure drop by 26.8 per cent over the last year while revenues have fallen by six per cent.
The firm’s PEP figure fell from £552,000 in 2007-08 to £404,000 during the last financial year. Turnover dropped from £390m to £366m.
The results are in marked contrast to last year, when the firm witnessed a 10 per cent increase in both revenue and PEP. Turnover rose from £356m to £390m and PEP rose by £50,000 from £502,000 to £552,000 (15 May 2008).
However, Eversheds managing partner Lee Ranson admitted that the 2008-09 financial year had been a tough one for the firm.
He said: “It was clear to us in June last year that it was going to be a challenging year. Having said that, we’re optimistic about activity improving and have had good feedback from clients about the markets improving.”
During the last financial year the firm completed three redundancy consultations, which have seen its workforce shrink by 16 per cent. The firm has now reduced its total headcount by 618.
Ranson confirmed that the total cost of funding redundancy payments was accounted for in the 2008-09 financial results.
While Eversheds has scaled back its workforce over the last year it has also expanded in a number of jurisdictions, launching in Singapore in January this year (26 January) and in Hong Kong in September last year (25 September 2008).
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 27-May-2009 7:46 pm
Only Eversheds would seek to spin as a good thing the fact that they made redundancies early. The real issue is have they got rid early of the senior management that got them into this mess - answer NO - Hughes has been promoted from Managing Partner to Chief Exec!!
When the good times return hopefully people will remember how shabbily Eversheds treated its staff during the bad times.
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