Half-year revenues up 12 per cent at Ashurst
Ashurst’s half-year financial results have shown a 12 per cent firmwide increase in turnover on the same period last year and a 2 per cent increase in average partner count.
Simon Bromwich
The firm’s half-year revenue for the period from April to October 2011 was £154m, up from £138m in the same period in 2010.
It posted a 5 per cent increase in turnover for its London office and a 25 per cent hike for its operations outside the UK.
Managing partner Simon Bromwich said the Paris office had seen a particularly strong revenue increase in the past six months thanks to a robust run of deals, especially in restructuring.
He said the firm’s Asian offices had also seen a significant increase. The firm is set to go live with a combination of its Asian operations and those of Australian firm Blake Dawson in March 2012 (26 September 2011). The firm said it was on course to meet the March target.
Partner numbers were up 2 per cent on April to October last year as an average across the two periods. Bromwich said the increase would be similar taking into account a snapshot of partner numbers at the end of both periods.
This comes despite a string of partner departures in recent months primarily covering the real estate, energy, construction and litigation practices.
Lawyer numbers rose 7 per cent.
Bromwich said: “The second half is going to be tough. We already have seen some drop-off in the past month or so.”
