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LITTLE CHANGE SIZE-WISE

The composition of the first 'size' table, showing solicitors according to their numbers of fully listed and AIM clients, is virtually unchanged this quarter from last, the only very slight difference being that Hammond Suddards Edge, in joint ninth place last time with Clifford Chance, both having 45 clients, has just pipped Clifford Chance this time round with 45.5 clients against the latter's 41.5. The five who head the list, Slaughter and May, Ashurst Morris Crisp, Eversheds, Norton Rose and Linklaters, are all considerably larger in terms of client numbers than number six, DLA. Of the fourteen firms represented five have increased their client numbers by small amounts, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has remained static at 41 and eight show figures slightly down.

The second ' size' table, which shows brokers whose clients are making the most profit, is again headed by Slaughter and May and has the first six positions and the last two unchanged, with only slight shuffles in the middle. However the gap between Slaughter and May and Linklaters, at number two, has considerably decreased: last quarter the clients of the former showed aggregate pre-tax profits of £8,063.2m, over one and a half times that of Linklaters (£4,490.9m). This time, the two show figures of £8,383.8m and £6,865.3m respectively. Happily only the clients of DLA, in last place at number twelve, actually show a negative figure, and half the brokers show clients' profits up from last quarter.

The first of the two 'growth' tables, showing firms whose clients are growing fastest, is headed by Linklaters - the only one with a positive figure at 6.9%. Eversheds, second as last quarter, has clients with a decrease in pre-tax profits of -0.1% At the bottom of the table Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's figure is -25.6% (though this is slightly better than last time when the same firm's figure was -26.2%). There are one or two sharp moves recorded here - Herbert Smith up from seventh to third place, Pinsent Curtis Biddle also up, this time from tenth to fourth, and Osborne Clarke up from eleventh to seventh. Slaughter and May has slipped from fourth to eighth place and Norton Rose from sixth to tenth.

The last table also shows some major positional changes, as solicitors are ranked according to the average increase in clients' earnings per share. Here Osborne Clarke has jumped into the lead (from sixth place in October 2002) with a figure of 3.8%. Hammond Suddards Edge, last time's number one, comes in at number two. Herbert Smith has made a leap from ninth to fifth place, while Slaughter and May has dropped back three places from number five to eight. Fifty per cent of the list show clients with positive earnings per share growth; at the end of the table Clifford Chance's clients show a significant fall, from -15.8 % last time to -26% now.

NOTES

  1. Advisers have been selected for inclusion in the table if they are in the top 10 in terms of number of UK fully listed and AIM clients, or if the number of such clients represents 5% or more of the total number of clients covered by the table.
  2. Data source - The hemscott.NET Securities and Corporate Information Desk database.
  3. For a full list of clients see the Professional Advisers and their Clients section at the back of The Company Guide.

MOST NUMBER OF STOCK MARKET CLIENTS
(based on numbers of UK fully listed & AIM clients)
    This edition
No
Last edition
No
 
1 Slaughter and May 97.0 95.0 (1)
2 Ashurst Morris Crisp 95.0 94.5 (2)
3 Eversheds 92.0 88.0 (3)
4 Norton Rose 82.5 86.5 (4)
5 Linklaters & Alliance 80.0 82.0 (5)
6 DLA 53.5 58.5 (6)
7 Herbert Smith 52.0 54.0 (7)
8 Pinsent Curtis Biddle 48.5 50.0 (8)
9 Hammond Suddards Edge 45.5 45.0 (9)
10 Clifford Chance 41.5 45.0 (9)
10 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 41.0 41.0 (11)
12 Osbourne Clarke 40.0 40.5 (12)


CLIENTS MAKING THE MOST PROFIT
(based on clients' aggregate pre-tax profits)
   
This edition
£m
Last edition
£m
 
1 Slaughter and May 8383.8 8063.2 (1)
2 Linklaters & Alliance 6865.3 4490.9 (1)
3 Herbert Smith 2147.3 2942.6 (3)
4 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 2029.8 2232.5 (4)
5 Clifford Chance 1942.7 1670.1 (5)
6 Eversheds 800.3 791.1 (6)
7 Pinsent Curtis Biddle 585.4 601.4 (8)
8 Ashurst Morris Crisp 520.5 392.3 (10)
9 Norton Rose 436.5 608.0 (7)
10 Hammond Suddards Edge 422.1 396.3 (9)
11 Osborne Clarke 40.8 13.2 (11)
12 DLA -199.4 -207.3 (12)

FASTEST GROWING CLIENTS
(based on average increases in clients' pre-tax profits)
    This edition
%
Last edition
%
 
1 Linklaters & Alliance 6.9 2.7 (1)
2 Eversheds -0.1 1.0 (2)
3 Herbert Smith -4.5 -8.9 (7)
3 Pinsent Curtis Biddle -4.5 -14.1 (10)
5 Hammond Suddards Edge -4.8 -3.0 (3)
6 DLA -5.6 -6.5 (5)
6 Osborne Clarke -5.6 -21.8 (11)
8 Slaughter and May -8.7 -5.3 (4)
9 Clifford Chance -11.6 -10.6 (8)
10 Norton Rose -12.1 -7.7 (6)
11 Ashurst Morris Crisp -22.5 -12.7 (9)
12 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer -25.6 -26.2 (12)

CLIENTS WITH FASTEST INCREASING EARNINGS
(based on average increases in clients' earnings per share)
   
This edition
%
Last edition
%
 
1 Osborne Clarke 3.8 -2.3 (6)
2 Hammond Suddards Edge 3.3 5.1 (1)
3 Pinsent Curtis Biddle 3.1 2.9 (2)
4 DLA 2.1 1.9 (3)
5 Herbert Smith 1.7 -5.9 (9)
6 Linklaters & Alliance 0.5 -2.9 (8)
7 Eversheds -0.4 1.8 (4)
8 Slaughter and May -2.6 -0.5 (5)
9 Norton Rose -3.8 -2.8 (7)
10 Ashurst Morris Crisp -13.9 -6.7 (10)
11 Fresfields Bruchhaus Deringer -15.2 -14.3 (11)
12 Clifford ChanceBerwin -26.0 -15.8 (12)


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