City firm Macfarlanes recorded a 19% leap in profit per equity partner last year to nearly £2.5m – the highest figure of any firm to report its annual results so far this summer.

The firm’s revenue rose by 16% to £303.7m in the year to 30 April 2022 with operating profits of £164.2m, a 15% increase on last year’s results.

Macfarlanes saw PEP hit £2.48m, which comfortably exceeds the £2.04m figure reported last week by magic circle firm Clifford Chance – the only other firm to have posted PEP above £2m.

The firm has also announced a 7.5% increase in newly-qualified salaries to £107,500 plus individual and firm-wide bonuses, putting its offer level with magic circle firms Allen & Overy and Linklaters, which this month said they have no imminent plans to raise NQ pay.

Macfarlanes said that its firm-wide bonus for this year will be uncapped and paid to all staff at a rate of 11.23%. It also recorded a 92% retention rate for its trainees who will qualify in September, with 23 out of 25 due to remain at the firm.

Senior partner Sebastian Prichard Jones said: ‘This was by any standards a year of strong demand for the legal industry as a whole but we were fortunate to operate in parts of the market where our clients were particularly active. Our thanks go to our clients for continuing to entrust us with their mandates and our people who rose to the challenge of increasing levels of demand.’