Martineau Johnson PEP surges 48 per cent

Birmingham-based Martineau Johnson has grown average profit per equity partner (PEP) by almost half.

This year’s PEP is £260,000, a 48 per cent increase on last year’s figure of £176,000.

This is despite an expansion of the equity from 17 to 20 partners. The firm has an additional 28 fixed share partners.

Managing partner Bill Barker put the growth down to achieving the right balance between turnover and costs, explaining that in the past two years lateral hires and new premises in London hit profitability but have finally paid off.

Barker said: “Having achieved a 33 per cent increase in gross profit - profit before partner costs and tax - we have now got the balance right in terms of turnover and costs.”

“Winning new business has been a key factor across all sectors and in particular significant instructions in respect of banking work.”

The biggest driver of turnover growth was in the intellectual property and technology group, which increased revenue by 56 per cent, and corporate finance, which expanded by 38 per cent. Banking grew by 25 per cent.

Real estate, on the other hand, saw negligible growth.

Overall the firm saw fee income rise by 12 per cent to £23.3m for 2007-8.

The firm reported work on almost 200 corporate deals to a total value of £1.8bn.

For more on the financial results at all the top firms as they come in, see our Top of the PEPs 2008 blog here