PEP now ‘approximately £1 million’, says silver circle player
Travers Smith has revealed its latest set of financial results, with profit per equity partner (PEP) dropping sharply by 20% to “approximately £1 million” for the year ending 30 June 2020.
The silver circle player posted revenues of £160.9 million, a dip of 1%, while net profit (a figure it does not announce) fell 11%. The results are in stark contrast to its financial performance for the previous year, which saw revenue jump almost 11% to £162.5 million.
The firm said in a statement that the fresh figures reflect the the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the uncertainty around Brexit over the course of the last year. It also cited “significant investment” in the firm’s people, systems and processes, which it say has enabled it to continue to operate effectively during the lockdown.
“The last few months have seen trading conditions unlike any that we have previously experienced but, despite that, the way we have reacted to the COVID-19 crisis has exceeded all of our expectations,” Travers Smith managing partner David Patient said. “Inevitably, the lockdown, which coincided with the crucial last quarter of our financial year, has had an impact on our provisional year end results, with turnover falling by approximately 1% compared with last year.”
He continued:
“However, this year’s results come after an uninterrupted 10 years of consecutive growth. The previous two years, in particular, were stellar for the firm, with turnover increasing, year on year, by around 17% and 11% respectively, and profits up significantly in the same period.”
Fellow silver circle firm Herbert Smith Freehills this week reported a 2.5% rise on revenue to hit £989.9 million but a drop by almost 10% in PEP to £857,000.
Meanwhile, Ashurst revealed last week that PEP had fallen 7% to £903,000 following what the firm described as a “year of consolidation”. Its revenue slightly increased by 0.5% to £644 million.
