The leader of Newcastle law firm Sintons has hailed its staff’s commitment, after seeing group turnover remain relatively stable despite the “unprecedented” challenges of the pandemic.
The firm has published accounts for the year ended March 31 2021 – the first since the sale of the firm’s defendant insurance business in September 2019 – which show turnover of £13.2m, a drop on the previous 14 months’ turnover of £17.5m.
However, operating profit over the two periods for continuing operations rose from £3.65m to £4.96m, and the firm saw only a slight reduction in fee income of £400,000 over a comparative 12-month period.
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Managing partner Christopher Welch said that a sustained reduction in expenditure on things such as travel and event-led marketing helped to improve the firm’s operating profits.
He said the firm’s financial performance in challenging times reinforced its confidence for the future and the ongoing investment it is making in people, systems and facilities.
Since the year end, the firm, which marked its 125th anniversary last year, has invested a further £750,000 in IT system upgrades and has set aside £300,000 for the upgrade of office facilities.
Mr Welch said: ”This investment is all part of Sintons’ commitment to creating a working environment in which colleagues can thrive whilst delivering the highest quality work for the firm’s clients using the most secure IT systems.
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“It is fair to say that at the start of the pandemic, like most businesses, we were anxious to see how work levels would hold up and how successful fully remote working would be for our entire workforce.
“These really were uncharted waters for all businesses, and we had just launched a major rebrand as we entered the first national lockdown. I am very proud of how the entire firm embraced the changing circumstances. Our robust IT systems coupled with the dedication and resilience of our people, allowed us to provide uninterrupted quality services to all our clients whilst at all times ensuring the health and well-being of our people.”
Mr Welch also said the company looked for ways to overcome the challenges of reaching existing and potential clients.
He said: “Having devised a podcast series during the pandemic which has now been accessed by 4.75m listeners, we have further demonstrated our ability to adapt to changing circumstances and find new and innovative ways to continue to deliver the service our clients have come to know and expect.”
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Mr Welch said the firm remains confident for the future, highlighting strong work levels in the current financial year across all parts of the firm’s operations, with volumes reaching “unprecedented” levels in some areas.
He added: “Part of our strength has been that we are, and will remain, a full service law firm serving all the needs of our clients based here in the North East and further afield.
“It is this ability to look after our clients at every stage of their personal and business lives that we know enables us, as a firm, to build long lasting relationships with our clients which continue in these still unpredictable times.”