Employees of Shepherd and Wedderburn (S&W) are welcoming extra bonus payouts worth 5% of their salaries after a successful financial performance by the firm.
S&W, which has 77 partners and 417 employees across its offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Dublin, said profits before partner distributions rose 3% to £26 million during the year to April 30 on turnover that was up by 5% at £62.2m.
The “exceptional” bonuses for colleagues were paid out in addition to the firm’s performance-related bonus scheme.
‘Strong and growing platform’
S&W managing partner Andrew Blain, said: “Last year was the first year of our revised three-year strategy and I am delighted with the progress we have made.
“We have achieved the targets we set ourselves for the first 12 months, and made a number of strategic investments in people and premises.
“We go into 2022-2023 with a strong and growing platform to support clients and deliver on our 2024 strategy.”
The firm said the past year was the first of its revised three-year strategic plan.
This is aimed at driving growth primarily in core strength areas including real estate, infrastructure, corporate finance and the fast-growing and innovative sectors of technology and clean energy, where client activity has been “particularly strong” over the past year.
High points during the year
Highlights for S&W over the past year include advising Scottish Sea Farms in its £164 million purchase of the UK fish farming interests of Shetland-based Grieg Seafood.
Another notable achievement was being appointed legal advisor for the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) earmarked for Aberdeen.
Following a competitive tender, the firm’s clean energy group – comprising more than 90 lawyers – was selected to advise ETZ on all corporate, property and construction, and regulatory matters.
The firm’s banking team advised on 150 deals, with a total value of £101 billion, during the year.
S&W also invested in its office footprint, in line with its ambitions to be net-zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
The firm has relocated its Aberdeen team to offices on Albyn Place, where it now has space to double its Granite City-based headcount.
Other highlights of the past year include five lawyers becoming partners, with women accounting for 80% of all partner promotions at the firm.
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