Listed law firm Gateley has announced revenue of £60.9m in its final year as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), an 11.5% increase on its 2013-14 revenue of £54.6m.

Gateley announced its results for the 2014-15 financial year in a statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning. The period covers its final year as an LLP before it became the first English law firm to go public when it floated on the AIM market on 8 June.

The firm's adjusted pro-forma pre-tax profit increased 32.4% to £9.8m from £7.4m.

Its adjusted pro-forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization increased 28.4% to £11.3m from £8.8m.

According to the firm's statement, adjusted pro-forma numbers are stated after excluding income or expenses that relate to non-underlying items. These include "one-off professional costs in respect of the group's future strategy, on-going property lease restructuring costs and additional costs resulting from the release of operating lease incentives."

The earnings per ordinary share are 7.4 pence and its dividend yield is 5.4%. The dividend yield is based on 70% of profit after tax being available for distribution and £100m market capitalisation

The firm's most successful sector was property which accounted for £20.073m, this was followed by banking and financial services at £12.269m and corporate at £9.992m. The firm advised on more than 250 corporate deals amounting to £1.5bn.

Utilisation rose by one percentage point to 85%.

The firm's senior partner Michael Ward (pictured) said: "We want to grow the business by using the Plc platform." He added: "The opportunity to use shares in those transactions means that we have a competitive advantage and at this point in time we are keen to use that."michael-ward1

He confirmed that the firm is currently looking at a number of opportunities for growth and added that: "In the process we want to diversify our income streams, rather than a one dimensional income service provider, we see the opportunity of providing other professional services….there will be synergies at the client level with any acquisition target."

Ward confirmed that any expansion would be UK-focused and said: "In terms of geographical footprint in the UK we have ten offices we operate through, there might be the one or two extra that might be complementary but not in any significant numbers."

He ruled out further international expansion because "the evidence we have seen of people that have acquired their own European offices is that it tends to end in tears or it is an expensive process."

However he confirmed that the firm's Middle Eastern outpost in Dubai remains part of its long term plans, he said: "The market out there has always been challenging, it's not a big part of our business but it's one that we will keep and one that we will look to grow."

The revenue forecast does not include the contributions made by its Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow offices, which trade under the name HBJ Gateley.

These offices were not included in the stock market flotation and remain an independent business, affiliated with Gateley Plc.

Gateley received an alternative business licence (ABS) in 2013 which allowed it to receive external funding and ultimately, float on the stock market. However, ABS structures are not recognised by the Scottish legal system so Gateley's Scottish offices were unable to go public alongside its English and Dubai offices.

In 2013-14 the combined firm posted a revenue of £71.7m, which made it the 48th largest firm in the UK.

This year the combined revenue of HBJ Gateley and Gateley Plc is set to hit £80m.