Ashurst revenues reach £961m in eighth year of consecutive growth
16 July 2024
The firm's revenue reached GBP 961 million, a 9% increase from the previous year's GBP 879 million, with profit per equity partner (PEP) increasing by 14% to GBP 1.336 million, surpassing the previous record of GBP 1.175 million. The firm has achieved average revenue growth of 8% each year over the past eight years (and average profit growth of 10% each year over the last eight years), demonstrating its resilience and adaptability in a changing market.
"These results reflect the focus and commitment of our people, the trust of our clients and the successful execution of our 2027 Strategy. We are centred on our priority industries, practice areas and markets, combined with the delivery of integrated solutions that bring together teams across legal and consulting services with our NewLaw capability. This is a trajectory that really works for our business and is bearing fruit for our clients. Pleasingly, we are budgeting to have our first year of revenue above £1 billion in our financial year ending 30 April 2025."
Paul Jenkins, Global CEO
The firm reported strong performance across all regions, with the UK, the US, and the Middle East achieving double-digit revenue growth of 13%, 18%, and 17%, respectively. The Asia-Pacific region also performed well, with significant growth in Singapore and a solid year in Australia. The Continental Europe business continued to grow, with Italy and France as standout jurisdictions. The firm's US presence has also strengthened with double-digit growth from its Global Markets and Projects teams.
Around the globe, Ashurst continued to expand its footprint, with a new licence granted in Saudi Arabia in November 2023 and the opening of a third Ashurst Advance global delivery centre in Krakow in February 2024.
Ashurst’s revenue was driven by its strategic focus on six key industries, which accounted for over 85% of the total revenue. The energy and resources industry delivered a strong performance at 23%, reflecting the firm’s dominance in a growing sector focused on the energy transition. Disputes, Investigations and Advisory reported a 10% increase, reflecting the firm’s continued focus on growing its Disputes & Investigations capability. The Projects & Energy Transition business grew by 11%, and Corporate showed double-digit growth in several regions, including Korea, Australia, Singapore, France, Italy, and the UK. Finance, Funds & Restructuring experienced strong demand, with 10% growth across Asia-Pacific and double-digit growth for Investment Funds. Ashurst's Risk Advisory business grew by 47%, which, combined with Ashurst Advance’s growth of 16% shows strong demand for the firm’s integrated solutions.
"These results demonstrate our ability to deliver exceptional value to our clients across the globe and are a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our people. We will continue to invest in our people and nurture our culture. They are the foundation of our success and allow us to grow the firm in a sustainable way that attracts and retains the best that the legal industry has to offer."
Karen Davies, Global Chair
The firm also made significant progress on its inclusion, diversity, and belonging (IDB) goals, its sustainability initiatives and pro bono work. Progress has been made towards its 40/40/20 global gender target, with 34% women partners and 32% women in senior leadership. The firm also set UK ethnicity targets of 15% for partners and senior business services leaders, of whom 6% will be Black, with current figures at 9.1% ethnically diverse and 1.4% Black. Over 65,500 hours of pro bono work on 683 matters were also recorded by the firm.
Karen Davies added: "We have a strong and diverse team of talented professionals, who share our values of quality, collaboration and thinking differently. We are committed to making a positive impact on the world around us, through our inclusion, diversity and belonging agenda, our sustainability and pro bono initiatives.”
Paul Jenkins concluded: "As we look ahead, we are confident that we have a clear and ambitious vision for the future, underpinned by our 2027 Strategy. This follows a similar focus with our 2019 Strategy and 2023 Strategy, which in each case has led to our strong growth trajectory over the last eight years. Our clients, people and communities will always be our primary focus and both strengthening and finding new ways for closer collaboration will help us deliver our goals."
The firm has been at the forefront of some of the most complex and high-profile transactions and disputes in the market, including:
- HSBC on the provision of its digital assets platform, HSBC Orion, to the Central Moneymarkets Unit of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in connection with the issuance of a digitally native multi-currency green bond by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (Hong Kong & UK)
- Tritax Big Box REIT plc on its GBP 3.9bn all-share public M&A takeover of UK Commercial Property REIT Limited - one of the largest REIT deals in the market during 2024 (UK)
- ING on the financing to AGR Biogas for the construction of a 55GWh biomethane production plant – the first project finance transaction for the development of a biomethane plant in Spain (Spain)
- 7-Eleven Australia on the AUD 1.71bn sale to 7-Eleven International (Australia)
- Austin Transit Partnership on the first light rail line for Austin (US)
- Vontobel on its acquisition of a significant minority stake in Ancala Partners, marking Vontobel’s entry into institutional private markets (UK, Luxembourg, Brussels, Spain, Germany, Italy, New York)
- General Atlantic on its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Actis, to create a USD 96bn diversified global investor (UK, Singapore, Dubai)
- Continuing to advise the UK Government on the Carbon Capture Usage & Storage and Low Carbon Hydrogen programmes and advising Great British Nuclear on the delivery of small modular reactors for nuclear generation (UK)
- UK Export Finance on a landmark UKEF-guaranteed loan to finance the supply of two ex-Royal Navy minesweepers and related services to Ukraine's Ministry of Defence (France)
- Equitix on the GBP 2.5bn merger of smart meter company, MapleCo to Calisen - a landmark transaction, merging two UK smart meter platforms to create the UK’s largest meter asset provider (UK & Luxembourg)
- Long standing client Panattoni on the acquisition and GBP 900m regeneration at the former Honda car manufacturing site in Swindon (UK)
- Unique Meghnaghat Power Limited, as borrower, and the sponsors, Nebras Power Q.S.C., Strategic Finance Limited and Unique Hotels and Resorts, on the USD 463m project financing of a 584MW combined cycle power plant in Bangladesh - the largest IPP project financing to have closed in the past few years in Bangladesh (Singapore)
- Alcoa Corporation on its acquisition of Alumina (AUD 5.5bn), a major strategic transaction and an important part of Alcoa’s simplification strategy (Australia)
- IFC, JBIC, NEXI and the commercial lenders in relation to the development and financing of the 1580MW Syrdarya II CCGT IPP in Uzbekistan (Tokyo)
- Generali Investments on various investments, through its fund-of-funds scheme, for an aggregate amount of circa EUR 1.7bn, in various private debt investment strategies' structures, all settled and operated by key US and UK private debt asset managers (Italy & Luxembourg)
- City of Melbourne on the Power Melbourne community battery project (Australia)
- Commerzbank AG on the acquisition of 74.9% of the shares in Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft GmbH (Germany)
- Givfunds Social Ventures on registration with the Financial Conduct Authority, bringing together an integrated team from across the firm's pro bono, legal, and risk advisory business (UK, Germany & Australia)
- Luxembourg Government in relation to the judgment of the EU Court of Justice in the Amazon tax ruling case (Luxembourg)
- Equinix on its first long-term renewable power purchase agreement in Australia (Australia)
- Cerberus on the sale of Haya Real Estate in Spain (Spain & UK)
- Gulf Capital in connection with its sale of equity interests in Repton School in UAE to Cognita (Middle East)
- Acting for a major telecoms provider on a class action (UK)
- Intermediate Capital Group on its investment into Alfa Medicus Pte. Ltd, a leading private day surgery operator in Singapore and the company has applied the proceeds of ICG's investment in acquiring 14 healthcare companies (Singapore)
