Acquisitions and restructure costs forced Manchester-headquartered commercial law firm DWF to make a pre-tax loss of more than £30m during its latest financial year, despite revenue passing the £400m mark.
The listed group has reported a pre-tax loss of £30.6m for the 12 months to April 30, 2021, compared to a profit of £18.2m during its prior year.
DWF has also posted a revenue of £400.9m for the 12 months, a rise from £356.6m.
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On an adjusted basis, the group reported a pre-tax profit of £34.2m, up from £15.2m.
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, the pre-tax loss was attributed to "significant, largely non-cash, acquisition and closure/scale back-related expenses".
The group added that it took "decisive action" during the year and that its new operating structure "provides a platform for sustainable, profitable growth".
Chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles said: "FY2020/21 was a transformational year for DWF and I am delighted that the tremendous resilience, dedication and excellence of our colleagues has been rewarded with these strong results.
"The results reflect a return to pre-Covid-19 activity levels, but they also evidence the importance of the decisive actions we took throughout the year as we focused on driving greater operational efficiency, profitability and strategic alignment.
"I am especially pleased to see revenue and gross profit margin growth in every division of the group.
"This demonstrates the strengths we have right across the business, the broad appeal of our offerings in their own right, and how these can be even more powerful when combined through our differentiated Integrated Legal Management approach.
"We have now implemented our new global operating structure to streamline the group into three global divisions of legal advisory, mindcrest and connected services.
"We believe this is an important step forward in our strategy and will help us to fulfil our vision of becoming the leading global provider of integrated legal and business services."
