North-west England firm Ricksons Solicitors boosted turnover by 16 per cent from last year’s figure of £9.1m to £10.6m.

Ricksons predicts that profit per equity partner (PEP) will range from £200,000 at the top of equity to £110,000 at the bottom.

Managing partner Anthony Hughes commented: “Our PEP figures are likely to remain the same as last year as we sold one of our businesses for £1.4m, which affected us, although our turnover still increased dramatically and our commercial turnover alone was £4.4m.”

Ricksons made five lateral partner hires last year and made up two associates. In Manchester, litigation partner Nichola Upperton-Evans joined from Rowe Cohen and commercial property partner Mike Livesey joined from Turner-Parkinson.

Intellectual property partner Robert Stoker joined the Manchester office from an in-house role at Adidas in Amsterdam, where he negotiated FIFA sponsorship deals and led the legal team advising the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.

In Preston, corporate partner Keith Milling joined from Addleshaw Goddard and in Yorkshire, property partner Claire Murphy joined from Lupton Fawcett.

Client wins in the last year for the firm include Preston North End Football Club. The commercial team in Manchester advised on a number of significant deals including Cumbrian Industrials on its multimillion pound sale to Hanson Aggregates. It also advised on the sale of Worthington Nicholls factory for £1.6m, which will be converted into residential apartments, and HealthSure on its merger with HSA Simply Health, creating a £200m business.

Ricksons has 34 partners and 200 staff in offices in Leeds, Manchester and Preston. It plans to move to bigger premises in Manchester and Leeds.