Upbeat Hammonds 'rises to the challenges'

The firm ended April 2010 with 169 partners across its four offices in the UK and 10 in Europe and Asia, down from 185 the previous year.

Peter Crossley, managing partner, said: "We are pleased with our performance, which is on plan and at the top end of our expectations at the start of the year.

"It is a credit to everyone in the firm how we have risen to the challenges presented by the difficult commercial environment and goes to show what can be achieved through strong team working and client focus."

He said the corporate, commercial and dispute resolution teams all saw growth, as did the employment and pension teams.

The firm's Belgian and Chinese offices, meanwhile, saw growth of seven per cent and six per cent respectively.

Hammonds said it recruited three partners and promoted another to the Leeds partnership over the last year.

The office advised on deals including the 100m acquisition of Yorkshire-based vehicle parts distributor Andrew Page, the 412m all-share Investec takeover of Rensburg Sheppards and the 65m management buyout of JHP Group.

Jonathan Jones, head of Hammonds in Leeds, said: "We have had a busy 12 months after taking on a series of new partners and completing a number of big-ticket transactions."