International firm DAC Beachcroft has announced a turnaround in fortunes after posting increased profits for the past year.

Provisional results for the year ending 30 April 2015 show operating profit ‘before exceptional items’ grew from £30m to £33m. Profit per member before exceptional items increased from £278,000 to £307,000.

The top-25 firm said total billings in 2014/15 were £200m, up £6m on the previous year.

The figures are an improvement on last year’s performance, when profits before tax fell by 13.6%, from £31.7m in 2012/13 to £27.4m.

The firm says it has also reduced net debt from £30m to £25m and cut the number of lock-up days from 164 to 149.

Managing partner Paul Murray said it was a ‘solid’ performance that reflected ongoing progress.

‘The lock-up days values highlight our efforts to improve working capital management and the reduction in net debt is the practical consequence of these focused endeavours,’ he said. ‘This performance represents improvements that we were determined to make and that will be continued.’

Meanwhile, top-10 firm CMS Cameron McKenna (pictured) has reported that net profit increased by 3.3% for the year ending 31 December 2014.

Total revenue increased 11% from £679m to £753m during a year in which 109 new partners were added, 78 of whom were from mergers with Scottish firm Dundas & Wilson and Swiss practice ZPG Avocats.

Cornelius Brandi, executive chairman of CMS, said: ‘We are very pleased with the firm’s excellent revenue growth in 2014, in spite of the geo-political volatility in many regions in which we operate.

‘In spite of the slowdown in China and conflict in the Middle East and other areas, we are confident about the global business outlook for the next year.’

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