Bevan Ashford's two office networks - one spanning Exeter, Plymouth, London, Taunton and Tiverton (EPL); the other linking Bristol, Birmingham and London (BBL) - are to demerge to avoid overlapping business interests at the top 50 firm.

A joint statement from EPL chairman Simon Rous and BBL chief executive Stuart Whitfield said the twin-network structure served the firm well for ten years, but 'the two firms have started to overlap and on occasions independently go after the same business'.

BBL's commercial development director, David Worskett, said the overlapping was most common in public sector, local authority, and health sector contracts.

The formal demerger will take place on 31 October 2004, after which the two firms intend to continue to remain 'best friends' and refer work to each other.

The statement said: 'The demerger will not result in the movement of partners or staff between the two practices.

As EPL and BBL have operated with independent resourcing for some years, clients should notice very little change.'

EPL has 41 partners and - unlike 65-partner BBL, with which it merged originally in 1986 - includes a private client department.

Mr Rous said EPL would continue to grow its regional presence.

He added: 'We do not have a big London presence and our plan is not to grow that office.'

BBL has a larger London office than EPL, employing more than 100 staff.

Mr Worskett said: 'Both firms [each has more than 400 staff] are big enough to make a significant impact on their own.'

After demerger, BBL will become a limited liability partnership renamed Bevan Brittan, while EPL will be renamed Ashfords.

Meanwhile Bevan Ashford posted combined annual turnover of 50.5 million this year, an 18% improvement on last year's figures.

The joint statement said that both EPL and BBL 'produced closely similar performances to contribute to the overall [financial] results.'

See [2004] Gazette, 17 June, page 5

By Jeremy Fleming