Nabarros' turnover inches up as profits drop five per cent

Nabarro Nathanson has come in just under budget with a 5 per cent rise in turnover for the last financial year, but has shown a 5 per cent drop in profitability.
Turnover rose from £87.3m in 2000-2001 to £91.4m, while profits per partner dropped from £363,000 to £345,000.
Senior partner Simon Johnston put the profits drop down to tough market conditions and continued investment in areas such as training, marketing, IT and knowledge management. "We're spending a lot of money on those things. We're taking a long-term but prudent view," he said.
A decision was made last May to shift the equity spread from £535,000-£260,000 the previous year to £510,000-£250,000 for 2001-2002. Johnston said: "That wasn't done in response to our financial results [during 2001-2002], but as a long-term management decision about making the business go better going forward."
The number of fee-earners at the firm dropped slightly year on year from 448 to 438, while the number of equity partners fell from 102 to an average of 99 over the year, but has since risen to 101.
Johnston said that there had been no redundancies. "There is no current intention to make any redundancies, but we're watching the business," he said. However, like many of its competitors, this year Nabarros decided to keep first-year qualified salaries static at £48,000-£50,000.
A major success story for the firm during the year was its public sector and projects practice, which has just hired Masons partner Susan Owen.