Jon Parker
Average profit per equity partner (PEP) at HBJ Gateley Wareing has rocketed by 40 per cent in the year the firm sealed its Anglo-Scottish merger.
Partners are toasting a PEP of £280,000, up by 40 per cent from the £200,000 recorded at the pre-merger Gateleys.
Managing partner for England Peter Davies said: "The growth has been due to increased turnover in a number of groups, in particular our corporate transaction and property teams."
The figures are the first financials recorded for the Birmingham-based firm, which resulted from the merger of Midlands firm Gateley Wareing and Scottish firm Henderson Boyd Jackson (HBJ) in January this year.
Turnover at the merged firm was £31.5m, a healthy 14 per cent increase on the pre-merger total of £27.6m (£10.5m at HBJ and £17.1m at Gateleys), and 9 per cent higher than the £29m predicted at the time of the merger.
Davies attributed the high profit to increased turnover and acknowledged that the profit margin of 37 per cent is "the highest I can remember".
He added that the first-quarter income of the current financial year is up by 17 per cent on the same period last year and predicted continued growth for 2006-07.