Tag: HFW

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Financials 2022/23: HFW posts best-ever results

HFW has posted its best-ever financial results for the financial year 2022/23. After a slight dip of 1% to £198.7m in 2022, revenue climbed by more than 13% to £225.3m. Profit per equity partner and revenue per lawyer were up too: PEP rose by more than 17% to £786,000, while RPL hit £455,000.

In London revenue increased by 16%, accounting for about 40% of the firm’s total revenue. The most impressive increases around the world, meanwhile, were in the Middle East (32%) and Australia (24%).

Last year aside, these figures continue a strong upward trajectory for HFW, which has seen the firm grow its RPL almost 25% in four years, and its revenue more than 60% since 2015.

In conversation with Legal Business, the firm explained its success as the result of a strategy focused on broadening its international coverage and extending its offering in its core sectors of aerospace, commodities, construction, energy, insurance, and shipping.

‘We’ve built up a good network’, said managing partner Jeremy Shebson (pictured). ‘We were building foundations, and now we’re looking to build on top of them.’

Senior partner Giles Kavanagh concurred. ‘We have a network of 20 offices around the world. The focus now is to build on the network, not to extend it further.’

That said, Kavanagh noted that the firm was not opposed to expanding into new areas ‘where there are good opportunities’. On this front, HFW recently received permission from China’s ministry of justice to open a representative office in Shenzhen. ‘It’s a very big commercial area’, explained Shebson. ‘The numbers are eye-watering, and the opportunities are considerable.’

In addition to the firm’s sector-focused international strategy, Shebson noted the importance of HFW’s strength in contentious work as a factor behind its continued growth in what he called a ‘difficult economic environment’. Results for 2023 showed the proportion of revenue generated by contentious matters held steady at around 70%.

Moving forwards, HFW intends to double down on its existing strengths. In Kavanagh’s words: ‘We are looking to attract laterals, teams, smaller law firms, and even something more ambitious than that.’

This approach has paid dividends over the last year: the firm reports ten lateral partner hires in 2022, and a further six in the first two months of this year.

As for that something more ambitious, Kavanagh was candid. ‘We’re open to discussions, not just with bolt-ons, but with larger-scale firms.’

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This article first appeared on Legal Business

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Financials 2020/21: HFW breaks £200m revenue barrier as profits soar by 30%

HFW has continued to perform resiliently in the face of the pandemic, on 9 August posting a 3% rise in revenue to £200m and a striking 30% increase in profit per equity partner to £683,000.

There were healthy increases across the board: net profit shot up more than 26% to £59.7m, profit per lawyer was up by 30% to £123,000 and revenue per lawyer grew 6% to £413,000.

The firm attributed the positive results to a spike in client demand across its specialist sectors, namely: aerospace, commodities, construction, energy and resources, insurance and shipping.

Asked by Legal Business if the firm’s profit hike was a reflection of reduced costs as a result of the pandemic, HFW managing partner Jeremy Shebson said: ‘We certainly saw an overall reduction in costs last year – particularly in relation to international travel, practice development and overheads – which obviously had a positive impact on our profit. But we’ve also seen the benefits of an increased focus on resource management and making sure that we are operating efficiently and effectively as a global firm.’

HFW has established an effective hedge that makes it resistant to global uncertainty –  revenue is heavily diversified, with over 60% of the firm’s income generated from outside the UK. There were some eye-catching international performances too – HFW’s Kuwait office grew 40%, Abu Dhabi was up 38%, Geneva was up 24% and Shanghai expanded by 18%. London, meanwhile, saw revenue increase by 7%.

The firm also benefited from its contentious practice bias, with 70% of the business underpinned by disputes matters.

Richard Crump, HFW senior partner (pictured), concluded: ‘Becoming a £200m business is a major milestone in our continued growth as a firm, and to have recorded what is our best ever year under such extraordinarily challenging circumstances is a real testament to the talent and dedication of the people we are fortunate to have at all levels across HFW.’

In other results, at the end of July fellow insurance specialist Clyde & Co unveiled a similarly solid set of financials. Revenue at the firm grew 2% to £639.6m, while both overall profits and PEP grew by roughly 8% each to £153.5m and £715,000 respectively.

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This article first appeared on Legal Business.