Charles Russell Speechlys has posted a 20% rise in net profit to £31.8m for its first full trading year following the 2014 merger of private client firms Charles Russell and Speechly Bircham.

Income for the year ended 30 April grew 4% to £140m, while average profit per equity partner is understood to have risen 23%, from £320,000 to £393,000.

The last year saw consolidation of all the firm’s London-based staff at Fleet Place and a 30,000 sq ft (nearly 20%) reduction in space. 

The firm also expanded internationally, most recently by appointing three Swiss-qualified partners to its Geneva office. This will ‘provide a distinctive offering in Switzerland for integrated English and Swiss legal advice to the Swiss private wealth market’, the firm said.

James Carter, managing partner (pictured), added: ‘We set clear financial and strategic goals for the three financial years following the merger and I am pleased that we are on track to meet, and in some cases exceed, the targets we set.

’While the result of the referendum will have a impact on business confidence and the legal market, we are fortunate to have a very broad-based practice which means that we continue to be well positioned to unlock opportunities and benefits for our clients and for our people.’

At international firm Trowers & Hamlins, meanwhile, global revenue grew 8% in the latest financial year to to £85.6m, while UK revenue grew by 9% to £70.5m.

However profits were flat at £19.5m, with UK profit down 9% to £17.6m.

The firm attributed the fall in UK profit partly to costs related to the firm’s merger with Devon firm Stones Solicitors last autumn.