BLP posts 5% drop in revenues at half-year stage

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has announced a 5% drop in revenues for the first half of the financial year, bringing in fee income of £79.8m.

The firm's results put it behind last year when it posted static growth at the half-year mark.

BLP said that its tax and finance practices were ahead of budget, while corporate and real estate saw a drop in activity, and litigation was flat.

The firm said that it was relatively positive about the results and that activity levels were starting to pick up again.

BLP is the latest firm to reveal its financial results for the half-year period, which ended 31 October, with Simmons & Simmons, Denton Wilde Sapte and Allen & Overy (A&O) also making recent announcements.

Simmons and A&O saw fee income levels drop by 16% and 7% respectively, while Dentons saw a 3.5% rise in revenues.

BLP saw revenues drop by 2.7% for 2008-09 as a whole, taking fee income levels to £180m, while partner profits dropped by 33% to £414,000.

Berwin Leighton Paisner on the Legal Week Wiki