Simmons & Simmons has seen revenues drop marginally in the first half of the 2010-11 financial year.

The firm has posted fee income of £117.7m for the first six months of the year – down from £120.3m at the same point last year, with the slight decline coming against a 27% increase in profit.

Simmons last year saw first half revenues plummet by 16% down from £143.5m at the same point in 2008-09. At that time the firm attributed the drop to the continued economic downturn, as well as the impact of closing offices in Portugal and Moscow.

Speaking about the latest results Simmons managing partner, Mark Dawkins, said: "The small reduction in income can be attributed to a range of factors. These include a shrinkage of areas that are outside our strategic focus, such as the closing of the Padua office, and difficult business conditions, especially in Western Europe where transactional practices have been affected by Eurozone uncertainty."

"Our business is, however, aiming for growth and there are encouraging signs. Most notably, growth in our core sector client programmes during this period is running at 16%."

At the full 2009-10 financial year, Simmons confirmed a turnover of £251m, a 13.8% decline on the previous year's total of £291.3m. At the same time, the firm posted an 11.3% drop in profits per equity partner (PEP). PEP stood at £461,000, down almost £60,000 from the figure of £520,000 recorded in the 2008-09 financial year.

The numbers come as only a handful of firms have posted a decline in revenues at the half-year point, including top 10 firm Eversheds.