PROFITS at Aberdeen law firm Ledingham Chalmers fell by 12 per cent in the last financial year despite turnover dipping by just two per cent in the same period.

In the year to the end of March pre-tax profits fell from £4.3 million to £3.8m and turnover fell from £12.5m to £12.3m.

Around £1m of turnover came from the firm’s financial arm, Golden Square Wealth Management.

Chairman Jennifer Young said that profit had been hit more than turnover because one of the firm’s biggest investments over the past few years has been in people, with those who have joined not yet maximising their potential in terms of income generation.

“Over the last five years we’ve done a lot of investment in terms of recruiting people and building up teams and we know they won’t all perform at their maximum level to begin with,” she said.

Among the investments were a new office in Stirling, which opened in the 2012/13 financial year with one person and is now home to six staff.

Although turnover at the firm has been broadly flat for three years, rising from £12.4m to £12.5m before falling to £12.3m, Ms Young said the firm’s partners were pleased with the result given the fall-off in activity in Aberdeen since the oil-price slump.

“Even if people aren’t working directly in oil and gas or offshore, everything in the area feeds off the industry to some degree,” Ms Young said.

She added that in the 2015/16 year the firm’s residential property practice was the worst affected while commercial property had a strong run.