Hammonds has unveiled its financial results posting a dip in turnover of 5% while profits per equity partner (PEP) fell by 25%.

The national law firm saw turnover fall by 5% to £125.4m for 2008-09, down from £132m in the previous financial year. PEP dropped to £276,000 from £367,000 in 2007-08.

Planning and employment saw revenue growth of 14% and 7% respectively while litigation, competition, asset-based lending and business recovery all experienced growth compared to last year. However, corporate finance and real estate were down significantly.

The top 25 UK law firm's branches in Belgium and Spain both grew by 30%.

Hammonds managing partner Peter Crossley told Legal Week: "It has been a year of great challenge and change but we believe we have taken positive action to deal with this. We are not [happy] that we have gone backwards but in a challenging set of market conditions we are satisfied with our performance."

He added: "We are aiming this year for a significant turnaround in PEP terms. We have done it before and we are determined we can do it again. We continue to invest in growth areas for the firm, which include public sector, employment, banking and international construction."

"During the course of the last two years we have made a number of structural changes, such as the introduction of performance-related pay, the restructuring of our equity and more recently we have made new appointments at senior management level, all of which are designed to create a basis for future profitable growth."

Hammonds has this year laid off 53 support staff and 24 fee earners as a result of a redundancy consultation last November while earlier this year the firm cut approximately 10% of its fixed share and equity partnership as well as de-equitising a number of partners.

However, Hammonds has recently introduced a number of flexi-working schemes, including sabbaticals, four day weeks and job-sharing, to avoid further cuts.