Expansion drives DWF revenue growth
International legal business DWF achieved an 18% increase in turnover for the year to 30 April 2018.
The firm, which has Scottish offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, saw revenue rise from £199m to £236m. Profit per equity partner also increased, by an undisclosed figure.
Andrew Leaitherland, managing partner and CEO, put the growth down to international expansion and investment in innovation. Over the past year DWF has opened its first offices in Singapore, Italy and Qatar, and entered into a strategic alliance in Turkey. In Australia it added Brisbane and Melbourne to its existing Sydney location. It also launched an intellectual property practice in Paris and a banking practice in the UAE.
On the IT front DWF formally launched as a separate division its Connected Services capabilities – business or consulting services which are offered either directly to clients as standalone services or as part of a complementary offering to DWF's other services. The new division allows DWF to provide multi-disciplinary teams across different professional and business services in an integrated package.
Mr Leaitherland commented: "This has been another very strong year for DWF, with growth across all of our businesses. Our differentiated offering of services, with innovative non-legal services supporting our core strengths in commercial and insurance, is having a real impact with clients.
"We have prioritised making significant investments which will drive the long-term success of our business and enable us to transform the way legal services are delivered. Through these investments we have furthered our international reach and launched our Connected Services division. We have also invested in senior leadership, with the appointment of Sir Nigel Knowles as chairman, the recruitment of more than 35 partners to the business and a further eight promoted from within the business to that level."
He added: "Looking ahead, in June we confirmed that we are considering a number of strategic options for our business, including the possibility of an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. We are already positioned positively for the next phase of our development, but we believe an IPO would be one of the options that would allow us to achieve our strategic objectives, notably by further increasing our capacity to invest in IT and Connected Services, while also enhancing our ability to attract and retain the best talent."