Tods Murray adds £1.4m to overdraft in first year as LLP

Scottish firm Tods Murray's bank overdraft rose by £1.4m between 2004 and 2005, according to its first set of limited-liability partnership (LLP) accounts.

The firm's bank debt rose from £767,000 to £2.2m in its first year as an LLP.

Head of finance Lindsay Birch said the loan had been taken out to finance an office move in January 2005 and that Tods Murray had paid it off fully during the past year. She added that the firm was pleased with its fee income of £16.7m for the first 11 months of trading as an LLP.

Meanwhile, rival Brodies upped its investment in people, office space and IT by almost £2m in the same period. Operating expenses rose by £1.8m to £11.6m in the last financial year.

Brodies' turnover grew by almost the same amount to £18.3m, resulting in a profit rise of just £22,000.

Finance director Ian Beattie said: "2004 was very much a year of investment and the results came in close to what we'd planned."

Beattie said the investments included additional Edinburgh premises, new IT infrastructure and extra staff. The accounts show that the firm has no bank borrowings and had £1.1m cash available at the end of the financial year.