Hogan Lovells saw profit before tax decrease by 7% in in the year to 30 April 2012, against a slight growth in revenue, according to accounts filed for the firm's UK LLP.

Documents filed on Companies House yesterday (5 February) show a 1.5% increase in revenue to £591m, which the firm attributed to a 1.2% growth in capacity. Staff costs increased by less than 1% to £240m, while operating expenses soared 18% from £122m to £145m, which the firm partly attributed to future costs relating to surplus office space.

This contributed to average profit per equity member falling 8% to £761,000, despite a drop of seven equity members to 215 in the year. Profit available for division among equity members also decreased 11% to £163.5m from £184.1m in 2011.