28/06/2017
We are pleased to report an eight per cent increase in turnover for the financial year 2016/17 of £149.9m, up from £138.8m last year.
Europe delivered some of our strongest growth, with a combined turnover increase of 118%, from £6.5m to £14.2m, aided by full financial year results for our new offices in Copenhagen and Moscow. There was also a significant increase in turnover for our recently relocated Dublin office, up 41% from £3.5m to £4.9m.
Outside of Europe, we have experienced growth in a number of our international offices across the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, with the latter driven by a string of office openings in Brazil, Peru, Chile and Colombia last year. At the start of this year we opened a fifth office in the region in Mexico, building on our strategy of ensuring clients have access to local expertise in key jurisdictions.
This global growth has been supported by a 10% increase in headcount worldwide, with our Copenhagen office increasing staff levels by more than 25% since January 2016. During the financial year, we also made nine lateral partner hires across our offices and merged with Waltons & Morse, strengthening international marine capabilities and coverage for our clients. In addition, this continued growth has led to office relocations in Dublin and Manchester where office space was more than doubled.
The strength of our strategy in anticipating and delivering the right capabilities for clients globally, through appointments and strategic mergers, is evident in these figures. We have seen strong European financial growth this year as new office openings have matured, and we expect to see this replicated in other markets over the next year as office openings in those locations develop. Our plan as we head into the next financial year is to continue to be guided by our clients’ needs as we monitor markets for further growth opportunities.
Nick Thomas, Senior Partner at Kennedys
Our financial year runs 1 May to 30 April, and we can also report that debt has decreased to 14% of turnover. As of 1 June, we merged with leading insurance US law firm Carroll McNulty & Kull (CMK), creating a global insurance practice that offers clients unrivalled coverage and expertise in all their key markets.
