Newcastle law firm Sintons has posted a 19% jump in operating profit, two years into a growth strategy in which it is boosting its workforce.
The law firm has published accounts for the year ended January 31 showing a leap in operating profit from £4.33m to £5.17m, plus a 10% rise in turnover from £13.8m to £15.2m.
Managing partner Mark Quigley said the growth in the business comes as it delivers progress across the business, underpinned by the arrival of 25 new senior lawyers to the firm in the
last 18 months. The firm employs 181 people in the financial period covered, having taken on nine new staff members over the year.
The firm said its commercial group saw significant growth, with gains in its core corporate and commercial, private client and real estate practice areas, as well as from its neurotrauma team.
The results show the progress Sintons is making through its strategy for growth, unveiled two years ago with the aim of growing the business while enhancing Sintons’ offering and building further on its reputation for client service.
Sintons won five awards at the Northern Law Awards 2019, including the overall Law Firm of the Year, in recognition of its progress and ambition.
During the financial year and since the year end, the firm has been involved in a number of notable North East deals, including the purchase of The Pen Shop from administration, the sale of Gateshead manufacturer TDX to a European counterpart and Gainford Group’s purchase of the New Bridge Street Hotel in Newcastle.
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Mr Quigley said the firm’s ongoing recruitment drive has been supported by continued investment in systems and processes.
During the year it recruited a new regulatory law team to further grow the firm’s presence in that area, and following the year end, in September, Sintons sold its defendant insurance business to North West law firm Keoghs.
He said: “The significant increase in turnover is indicative of the strong progress we continue to make as a business and across all of our practice areas. Our Strategy for Growth makes clear our ambitions and these latest results show we are delivering on that.
“Our people continue to be central to our success, and we remain committed to the recruitment and retention of talented lawyers, investing in their professional development and offering opportunities for progression. We have a first-rate team, which we will continue to add to with strategic new appointments to strengthen key areas of the business even further.
“Our aim is to become the law firm of choice for businesses, organisations and individuals regionally and nationally, through our focus on providing the highest quality service, tailored to each client’s needs and delivered by the best legal talent.
“The recent sale of our insurance litigation business, which came in response to significant market consolidation in that sector, was a strategic move which enables us to concentrate our efforts on the fast-growing areas of our business. While this will inevitably result in an impact in our fee income in the short-term, in the longer-term it enables us to invest our time and resources into key areas of the business where we can achieve even greater levels of regional and national progress.
“Additionally, we are very proud of our active CSR programme which continues to support charities and our local community and the firm’s donation of employee days to provide practical, hands-on work for those who need it most.
“We are reaching the end of our two-year adoption of Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care as our chosen charity and are delighted with all that has been achieved by all our people in support of this great charity.”