Roythornes

Turnover (£m): 9
RPL (£k): 176

After Spalding-headquartered firm Roythornes appeared to be largely recession-proof in 2009-10, the past financial year saw its turnover fall from £10.6m to £9m, with net profit also ­dropping slightly, from £3.3m to £2.9m.

Head of the firm’s management board ­Vember Mortlock said the decline has been the result of a quiet period in major practice areas, including property and personal injury, although its other core area of agriculture has remained comparatively buoyant.

Despite the slide Roythornes made a ­conscious decision to improve its profitability last year. This took the shape of a ­restructuring, including redundancies, and a plan to boost partners’ efficiency.

The firm also introduced merit-based ­remuneration in the past year, scrapping its lockstep in favour of annual partner appraisals by an equity review committee.

While it is still early days, Mortlock is ­confident that the changes are helping the firm turn a corner. Last year Roythornes’ profit margin rose slightly, from 31 to 32 per cent.