Weightmans has announced a 3% uptick in revenue £97.1m for 2017-18, marking its biggest  ever turnover, against a more than 6% fall in profit per equity (PEP).

PEP at the firm has dropped to £276,000, after it leaped by 18.5% to £295,000 in the previous financial year. The firm has seen varying PEP results in recent years, seeing a drop of 19% to £248,000 in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, gross profit has remained steady £38.7m – up from £36.7m last year.

The firm refurbished its Birmingham office and introduced new technology to its Manchester, London and Leicester bases during the financial year, which managing partner John Schorah acknowledged had affected profitability. 

He said: "This extraordinary volume of office moves and refurbishments has been understandably costly for the business – we have had an unusually high number of lease events to contend with in the course of one year and that was always going to affect profit in the short term.

"We are in the strongest position we have ever been in to focus on our clients and deliver a truly commercial service which goes beyond black-letter law."

Weightmans announced record half-year results in November 2017, when it achieved a 7% revenue rise during the first six months of 2017-18.

Last year the firm introduced a new structure and strategy, which split the business in two, with one group handling legal operations and the other overseeing client relationships.

The client relationship arm of the firm manages six key client markets – insurance, public bodies, corporates, owner-managed businesses, built environment and private client.

The changes have seen the firm cut the number of practice heads from 20 to 13, alongside a reduction in team leader headcount from 100 to 64.

Last year, Weightmans called off merger talks with Newcastle-based Ward Hadaway, citing differences in their "respective strategic priorities". The firm subsequently teamed up with insurance players in the US, Canada and Spain to create a legal network for their clients.