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United Kingdom

4 Aug 2010

Bonelli London: Income down, profits up

The London office of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo saw its turnover fall by just over 3% last year while the profits of the branch jumped by around 13%.

 

Italy’s biggest law firm saw its London turnover drop from £4.5m in 2008 to £4.35m in 2009. Bonelli’s overall 2009 turnover equates to roughly £109.5m, meaning the London office contributes almost five percent of total revenue. Bonelli also increased its share of work from the UK, which accounted for 15% in 2008 but 40% in 2009.

 

Gross profits fell slightly from £3.28m to £3.21m. However, the firm slashed over £150,000 from operating costs (down to £1.25m from £1.4m) and added £153,000 from “other operating income”, which helped push bottomline profits up by double-digit figures. The London team had £2.11m of operating profits in 2009, a leap from £1.87m.

 

The accounts, filed at Companies House and available to the public like all UK LLPs, showed that “cash at bank and in hand” went from £3.8m to £666,890. The LLP has five partners listed with the highest earning receiving £884,934. Details for creditor amounts "falling within one year" show that Bonelli loaned the UK LLP £1.46m in 2008 (there was no loan in 2009), that the London office had £198,000 of bank loans and overdrafts (down from £214,175). Overall, the amount from creditors was cut dramatically from £2.96m in 2008 to £964,358.

 

Bonelli did not comment on the filing,

 

The figures make for interesting reading as few European law firms are obliged to provide details of the inner-workings of their finances. Many UK law firms, however, have converted to UK LLPs over the last five years, allowing public access to their books. As such, European firms with a UK LLP provide a glimpse into the operations of the practice as a whole.

 

Out of Europe’s largest 100 law firms, 21 have offices in London. Eight have registered as a UK LLP. They are: Bonelli, Garrigues, Cuatrecasas Goncalves Periera, Hengeler Muller, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Wikborg Rein, NCTM and Schultze & Braun. In addition, German firm Noerr has registered the bulk of its practice under the UK LLP despite not having a branch in London.