Michelmores

Turnover (£m): 18.5
RPL (£k): 168

Exeter-headquartered Michelmores had a fairly stable year, with turnover dropping by 1.6 per cent to £18.5m. Net profit stood at £3.2m.

The firm’s emphasis on government work made last year difficult, although managing partner Malcolm Dickinson reports that a slow start was followed by more work in the second half of the year.

Michelmores increased the size of its equity partnership by 50 per cent as of May 2011, but in the past financial year the equity was still held tightly by just 12 out of 42 partners. ­Average profit per equity partner stood at £265,000, with an equity range of £155,000-£284,000.

The firm is seeking to improve its debt ­collection control after missing its 120-day lockup target by 39 days. Dickinson puts this down to some contingency fee work and clients’ general reluctance to pay fees.

Michelmores has a trading overdraft facility but negligible borrowings. It made no change to either last year.