King Sturge this week entered a new chapter as Malcolm King stepped down after 18 years as senior partner and the firm announced it had become a limited liability partnership.
Chris Ireland and Richard Batten took over as joint senior partners at the beginning of the firm’s new financial year on Monday.
King presented them with a golden legacy, as King Sturge reported an 18% increase in pretax profits for 2004 to £13.6m, on a record turnover of £110m, up 15% on 2003.
King will remain a partner, spending this year heading the international side of the firm and driving forward its European business. Ireland and Batten decided upon joint roles because they both want to retain involvement with clients.
Ireland, whose background is investment, will concentrate on Europe and the financial aspects within the group. Batten, whose experience is on the professional services side, will concentrate on the UK and external marketing and business development.
Batten said: “Our strategic goals are to reinforce our European network through internal growth with a view to becoming the number one player in eastern and central Europe.
“We also want to build on our strengths in central London offices, both on the investment and agency side, and we are very focused on public sector advisory, which we see as a driver for 2005 and 2006.
“Residential has also seen a massive expansion in the area of development and investment. Over the past 12 months we have taken on 80 staff and opened up residential offices in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Canary Wharf.”
Batten added that the firm would shortly open up residential offices in Leeds, Edinburgh and Knightsbridge.
“We have also exploited our overseas capability and have been feeding residential investment opportunities in Croatia, Spain and Prague back into the UK,” he said.
References: EGi News 09/05/05
