Listed law firm Knights plc says recent acquisitions have successfully contributed to a half-year revenue increase of 45 per cent.
In a recent trading update for the six months to October 2020, the firm revealed that revenue rose to £46.2m for the period, with £19.1m coming from acquisitions – this compares to £31.9m for the same period the previous year.
The firm – which has 15 offices across the UK in areas including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, York and Staffordshire – also saw pre-tax profit rise by 13 per cent to £6m, up from £5.3m the previous year.
Knights’ acquisitions include Exeter-based OTB Eveling LLP in November and Shulmans in Leeds, ASB in Maidstone and Fraser Brown in Nottingham.
The company said that trading recovered through the first half, reaching near pre-covid levels in October, with full staff salaries being resumed from November 1.
It also continued its recruitment drive to ‘support future organic growth,’ taking on 18 senior fee earners in the six-month period.
At the same time, Knights agreed leases for new offices in Birmingham, Leeds and Nottingham.
Bosses at the firm now expect organic growth to return to ‘double-digit’ levels for the second half of the year.
Its recruitment momentum will also continue over the next six months with a ‘strong pipeline’ of new recruits.
David Beech, CEO of Knights, said: “We have delivered a robust first half performance of profitable, cash generative growth across an enlarged group, despite the macro economic environment. The health and wellbeing of our people continues to be the group’s priority and this performance is credit to our teams’ continued provision of excellent service to our clients, remotely.
“Activity levels have improved further since period end, providing confidence that we will return to double-digit organic growth for the second half.
“We continue to execute on our strategy of driving organic growth, supplemented by targeted acquisitions that build scale and provide entry into attractive regional markets.
“Our well-invested business and strong culture is attracting senior fee earners, many of whom are joining from Top 50 law firms. Our prior investments have enabled us to successfully onboard new colleagues, win exciting new clients and rapidly integrate four acquisitions during a period of working remotely.
“Having broadened Knights’ geographic reach, our competitive position as a market leader in the regions has continued to strengthen through the period, and we anticipate that covid-19 will accentuate the recruitment and acquisition opportunities for our resilient business in the highly fragmented market for legal services outside London.
“We remain confident in our strategy and the prospects for the group.”
