Maclay Murray & Spens, one of Scotland's major independent law firms, is actively looking at potential deals to maintain its growth, its new chief executive has said.

Corporate lawyer Kenneth Shand, who took over last June, was commenting on accounts just published showing that the Edinburgh-based firm

saw pre-tax profits recover strongly to £13.7million in the year to May 31, after a slump to £10.4m in 2012-13.

Mr Shand said: "We are actively considering and assessing opportunities as well as being receptive to any approaches we might receive, it is a two-way assessment that is going on."

Mr Shand said he believed consolidation in the sector would continue. "Some firms are probably still feeling a financial pinch and some may have an overhang from property transactions in better times. Scale is probably important to a number of clients particularly large corporate and financial institutions...there could be opportunities there."

In 2012 Maclays was reported to have called off merger talks with English law firm Bond Pearce that would have created a £95m combined firm. Since then two of Maclays' biggest rivals McGrigor Donald and Dundas & Wilson have agreed mergers with English firms Pinsent Mason and CMS respectively. Maclays meanwhile has slipped behind independents Brodies and Burness Paull as well as Shepherd & Wedderburn, following that firm's acquisition of Tods Murray in a pre-pack administration deal last September triggered by Tods' property costs.

Mr Shand added: "We see ourselves growing further and we are open-minded about what form that might take. It could be a combination of organic growth, bolt-on teams, and potentially larger propositions."

The accounts show the average member's payout rose from £190,000 to £232,000 last year, just below its level in 2011-12, despite a rise in partnership members from 58 to 61. The highest-paid lawyer at the firm, then led by Chris Smylie, saw his remuneration jump by 30 per cent from £292,000 to £390,000, just below the £397,000 paid out in 2011-12.

The improved profitability came on the back of a £2.5m rise in turnover to £43.3m but was aided by a further reduction in headcount at the Edinburgh-based LLP. The number of fee-earners came down from 210 to 183, and administrative staff from 144 to 131, bringing total staff down by 40 to 314, compared with 387 two years ago.

During the year Maclays laid off a total of 28 legal and support staff, with its corporate and property practices bearing the brunt of the losses. The cuts came just over a year after six members of the firm's Glasgow private client team were made redundant.

Staff costs came in at £15.3m, down from £16.7m, helping drive a 32per cent uplift in operating profit to £14.2m.

The firm's net assets rose by over £3m to almost £19m, and it reduced debt from £1.3m to £1m, though ended the year with £1.6m in the bank.