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Media Releases
2006

15 May
2006

Strong growth

Leading law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has announced its annual fee income figures, showing a substantial rise in income from £30.7 million in 2004/5 to £34.6 million in 2005/6*. This £3.9 million rise in turnover represents a growth rate of 13% in the last year.

Patrick Andrews, chief executive of the firm, said:
Our turnover last year really demonstrates the firm's growing capabilities, particularly when advising on complex deals that require a number of different disciplines, such as the Scottish & Newcastle joint venture with Kuehne + Nagel.

The focus for the coming year is on consistently delivering quality work to our clients, which is increasingly of an international nature; capitalising on the breadth of services we can offer clients across different disciplines; bedding in the new members of our team; and ultimately we are aiming to significantly accelerate the future growth of the firm."

One of the challenges on the Shepherd and Wedderburn agenda for 2006/7 is the proposed conversion to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), which it is hoped will be complete by November. This is an important step for the firm, underlining its commitment to developing the business, while continuing to offer a high quality service to a growing client base.

The firm has had a productive year in terms of deal activity, having been involved in some of the UK's most high profile deals during the period. A high rate of new client wins, including Kwik-Fit Insurance, Fidelity Investment Management, Pernod Ricard UK, Waitrose, Grampian Foods and Scottish Widows has also contributed to the growth in turnover.

Some other major deals completed by Shepherd and Wedderburn:

  • The firm acted for the vendor in the Trump/Menie deal, in which US entrepreneur Donald Trump's company, Trump International, purchased a large tract of land in Aberdeenshire from Menie Sporting Estates to create a world-class resort with two championship-standard golf courses.
  • The £50m deal to create TMRI Limited, the company set up by Scottish Enterprise to act as a link between universities, drug companies and the NHS in a £50m funding package for groundbreaking medical research in Scotland.
  • Acting for Scottish & Newcastle - creation of a joint venture with Kuehne + Nagel Logistics Limited to undertake distribution for the drinks industry in the UK. This deal showed the breadth of Shepherd and Wedderburn's expertise, using specialist practice areas from every division from Corporate Finance through Employment to Property.
  • The £72m flotation of international engineering consultancy Scott Wilson Group, in which Shepherd and Wedderburn acted as legal advisor to Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd in its role as sponsor.
  • Acted as lead legal adviser to ProStrakan Group in its £187 million London main market flotation when it raised £40 million by way of a Global Offering of new shares. ProStrakan's market capitalisation at the issue price was approximately £187 million.
  • Acting on behalf of the Sir Robert McAlpine sponsored consortium in completing the Gateshead Schools PFI scheme, comprising two secondary and five primary schools with a capital value of £55m.
  • Acted for ScottishPower in the £96 million sale by Scottish Power Energy Management Limited to E.ON UK plc of a special purpose vehicle established in relation to the construction and operation of a gas storage facility at Byley, North Cheshire.

In the last year, the firm has continued with its strategy of a balanced combination of lateral hires and internal promotions to grow the partnership. Four further partners have been hired, followed by the recent promotion of three lawyers to partner. At associate level, promotions and lateral hires saw 19 further associates within the firm.

Mr Andrews concludes:
The growth of the business is not purely financial. Our specialist sector experience has, in particular, been strengthened by our recruitment strategy. Specialists in both corporate tax and shares and incentives have added a different dimension to our offering, underpinning and supporting the development of the business. Strengthening the competition and regulation team, one of our key specialist areas, has also contributed to the growth of the firm.

My intention is that we continue to develop in this way over the coming year, speeding up our expansion rate while consistently providing the quality of service that our clients require."

*Stated income figures refer to total fee income billed during the 2004/5 and 2005/6 financial years. As a result of UITF40 (Revenue Recognition in Service Contracts) accounting changes, total income figures (including non-fee income and WIP movement in addition to pure fee income) for both financial years will be published in due course.


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